New Start (Re-written)
by lllBluebirdlll
Summary: It's been almost a year since Mike and KITT started their crusade as field agents for the Foundation for Law and Government, both return to the SSC from a mision to find everyone gone, the only lead, a mysterious call and an adress that will ultimately lead them to old enemies that would send them in a wild chase until they face again and finish old buisiness
1. Ch 1 An Old Enemy

_**Ch. 1 An Old Enemy**_

 _Hey look I'm back! yeah it's been literal years, I had the thought of rewriting the first three stories that I wrote back then, I never got the time or imagination until now, so here we go. first chapter of the re writing process!_

Traveling through the middle of the desert, in a long forgotten road, a midnight black Ford Mustang with double charcoal black racing stripes running down the middle, the car moved at a very high speed, leaving trails of sand and dust from the ground around the road, inside it sat a single man, leaning down on the driver's seat hands off the steering wheel and resting behind his head. Man and machine sharing a bond that went much more than the stereotypical feeling of a man for his car, this went far beyond that, for this car was nowhere near normal, the shell of the car in reality served as the home for the most advanced artificial intelligence ever conceived by mankind, the Knight Industries Three Thousand, KITT to those that knew and worked with him, but an AI can't work alone, inside remained his driver, Michael Knight, Ex-Army ranger and good friend of the one person that conceived said AI, Dr. Charles Graiman, scientist extraordinaire and founder of the Knight Research and development agency, sadly Dr. Graiman had been killed about a year ago in a supposed plane accident, the organization closed down and KITT was decommissioned and his AI chip was extracted by the government lead agent that used to work with them, Alex Torres, luckily Mike, Sarah Graiman, Daughter of Charles Graiman, and Billy Morgan and Zoe Chae, lead techs of the organization managed to avoid the lockdown and assigned themselves the task of recovering KITT, after a while they managed to make a new AI chip for KITT and Mike was sent out for him, the rescue was a success, yet on their way back they realized that the real motive why they had taken KITT's AI chip had been to try and fix KARR's faulty programing, KARR, unlike KITT, had as primary directive the self-preservation, the two AIs battled, and despite KITT not being able to access his systems entirely they managed to defeat the evil AI, Torres, however, was killed In the process, after that, they decided to reinstitute FLAG, the Foundation for Law and Government, their work was now centered around solving cases that regular law enforcement was unable, that had a little under a year ago, currently AI and driver where driving on their way back from a long mission, KITT was taking over the driving while Mike took a while to rest, it was just fine for the AI, it gave him more time to enjoy the drive back, it wasn't until they were under five minutes from their base that he decided to wake up his driver "Mike" no answer "Michael"

"KITT…"

"I'm sorry to wake you up but we are approaching the base"

"How close are we?" he said as he straighten up his seat again

"We are under five minutes away"

"Okay, contact base, tell them we're about to enter"

"I already tried, they are not answering"

"Maybe they just went to take a break"

"Unlikely…but possible"

"Let's just go, I'll check if they're asleep as soon as we get back in"

A few minutes later and both where heading down the tunnel that lead to the main chamber of the building where KITT took residence, no one was in the near rooms, Mike got out of the car and walked towards where he knew the others' rooms where, he knocked on their doors but found that no one was around

"Michael"

"Yeah KITT?"

"I scanned the building and there is no one here"

"Maybe they went out on for something?"

"I don't think they did"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because all of their cars are in the garage, there is no other way for them to leave if they didn't take their cars, I don't like where this is going"

"Neither do I KITT…we need to find them, and fast"

"I am receiving an encrypted call, it's from Sarah's cell phone"

"Think you can patch it through my earpiece KITT?"

A second later and he had the call through his earpiece "Hey Sarah, where are you guys?" Mike was expecting to hear back Sarah's voice, that was why when that didn't happen his blood ran ice cold

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Who is this?"

"Surprising, you already forgot…I thought you'd remember, it hasn't even been that long"

"Cut the chase already, who are you and what did you do to Sarah?"

"She's fine, and she will continue to be as long as you do exactly as I say"

"…what do you want?"

"You will get an address shortly, you will go alone and wait for instructions there, understood?"

"Crystal clear…how do you know about us?" a second later and the call ended "great…KITT please tell me you have an ID on the caller"

"The speaker had a voice jammer that I could not decrypt in time"

"what about an address?"

"I'm sorry Michael, but the call was encrypted and re-routed through several locations, I did not have enough time to track it"

"Don't worry KITT, not your fault…did you get the address?"

"I just did, I tried to track the origin but even though I wasn't able to entirely decipher the place I can tell that it is not the same place that this address leads"

"How can you be so sure if you weren't able to figure out the address?"

"Because the place where I last detected the signal was not even close to the one they sent"

"And our best course of action would be?"

"To do what they say"

Rather reluctantly Mike got inside KITT and they headed out to the address that they had gotten, on their way they discussed at length the possibilities of why and what could happen with the situation they were currently facing, all in all there was nothing they could do other than do what they were told to, simply because they were completely in the dark as to what was happening with the rest of their team and it was too big a risk to try something different. It took them a while to actually arrive to the address but in the end they found themselves in the back of an old abandoned building, the only entrance/exit in sight was a small single door

"KITT can you see anything inside the building?"

"The whole building is protected with a specialized electromagnetic shield, I am unable to scan anything within immediate range"

"Will my earpiece work if I go in?"

"I don't think so" Just then, three men came out from the door and stood in front of the car "I think that's your cue" Mike shot a half smile to KITT as he opened the door, he slowly got out and closed the door behind him, taking a few steps away from KITT and stopping until he was between them and the Mustang, for a few seconds nothing happened, then the three brought up their guns, Mike immediately raised his hands in response

"Drop your gun" Mike stood still for a few seconds before slowly reaching for his back and grabbed his gun, dropping it slowly in the floor and kicking it off to a side "shut down the car"

"What?"

"Shut the car out now!"

Mike turned to look at KITT out of the corner of his eye and was able to pick up the change in the speed of the tracking motion of his scanner to be slightly quicker, he knew KITT didn't like the idea of leaving him in the dark, and to be honest, neither did he, but at this point, there was nothing they could do. After a few seconds Mike placed a hand on top of KITT's scanner, shooting a side-glance at the three men with the guns "Shut down all systems" a second later a low hum could be heard as the computer started to shut down and the ruby red scanner went dark, Mike removed his had from the car and glared at the men, at that point the three approached the ranger and took him inside the building, while that happened another group came from one of the neighboring buildings and approached the Mustang, the group surrounded the Mustang, three stood in front and on the sides with guns at the ready while three more secured some chains to the back of it to be able to pull it, after a little while a pick-up truck came around the corner of the far building, the chains that where attached to the Mustang where secured to the truck and they started pulling it slowly, the first three men kept on walking behind them being careful of keeping watch. Meanwhile this was happening inside the buildings Mike was taken to a large van in the other side of the building, the men that brought him in got in with him, the windows where blacked out and as soon as they were all inside the van took off quickly to an unknown location.

It was a while before Mike felt the van finally stop, everyone got down and he was able to see that they were in a smaller building than the one he had left off in, at the moment there were only two questions that had him worried out of him mind: where were Sarah and the others, and where was KITT, he was sure they hadn't brought him here, if they were smart enough to tell him to shut him off back there then they were smart enough to keep him away from any of them, yet all this thoughts kept him worried, he was pulled out of that train of thought when he was pushed into one of the separate areas of the small building, there were relatively few people here, he supposed that if he could find Sarah, Billy and Zoe they could take the people down, get out and find KITT, he was half expecting the Mustang to have some sort of backup plan and come crashing down for them, but after seeing that the people here had some advances computer equipment he supposed that plan was not going to work, was KITT on his way here? Did he even knew where they were…was he even okay?... that last thought kept him on edge, he couldn't contact him and just left him deactivated and out in the open, he was sure that there where probably more people around, this was not looking good. They kept walking for a little while before they turned to a separate room, they opened the door and pushed mike in before locking the door once more

"Mike!" The man turned around and found Sarah Billy and Zoe in the room

"Sarah, Billy, Zoey, are you all right?"

"We're fine but we need to get out of here quickly"

"Why what's going on here?"

"I don't exactly know yet but I heard them talking a while ago, they're after KITT, we can't let them get to him"

"…I…I think it might already be a little too late for that…"

"Mike?..."

"They lured KITT and I out to another place, they got me and I had to leave KITT back there deactivated…if you're sure about what you just said then they might already have him"

"Do you know where he might be?"

"I double they'll bring him here, and he's surely not where I left him"

"We need to find a way out of here and get to KITT"

"There are not too many people around here, we could probably take them down and work our way up from there, but our main problem right now is how to get out from here"

"Mike we can't let them get access to any of KITT's internal systems whatsoever, if they already have KITT, then out time is running out very fast"

"Do you have any ideas as to how we can et out of here?" At that a small slime formed up on Sarah's face as she turned to look at Zoe, who was currently wearing the same expression.

Some distance away inside a bigger warehouse-like building, through one of the main gates the pick-up was pulling the Mustang to the further end of the place, the large door closed behind them as they kept pulling, the place had a few computer stations about the place with several people working on each station, at the very back rested a makeshift division separating the main area from whatever remained on the back the truck kept on pulling the AI until it reached a platform near the back of the building, they unhooked the truck and secured the chains to the platform before leaving, the only people that remained around the AI where a small group of armed men that kept watching over to make sure nothing happened, they had very specific instructions to inform their superior if the AI came back online

He was sure they were oblivious to his actions, he had managed to bring his systems back a few minutes ago, but was smart enough to keep his scanner off in order to remain in the dark to them, there wasn't much that he could do, he was already trapped in this place since he was able to get his systems back up, he couldn't tell much of his surroundings either, the same field he had detected earlier was covering this place as well, he was in the dark to anything that wasn't within his field of vision, the only immediate threat he perceived at the moment where the armed guards around him, the only exit was closed off by a large thin metal door that he was sure he could crash out of, the only problem with that, was that as he continued to examine his surroundings he was able to detect a small device that was stuck to his side, above his left rear tire, said device had the purpose of diminishing his abilities, he couldn't use his engine to its full extent and that meant he couldn't get the boost needed to break the chains holding him with the amount of space he had, the other big problem was that his Nano shield was not working to its best ability, meaning that he couldn't break through the door, and that if there were any more powerful weapons that he wasn't aware of things could go south very quickly for him. At this point there wasn't much he could do, his processor was clouded with thoughts about Michael and the others, they still didn't know where Sarah, Billy and Zoe where, and Mike surely wasn't nearby, he had to make his way out of this place and focus on finding the others. Some more minutes went by and nothing of interest really happened, KITT was pulled out of his train of thought by an all too familiar sound, it was an engine, one that he thought he wouldn't have to listen to ever again after that fatal night in the middle of the desert, from around the corner on the wall behind him came an all-black Mustang, identical to him in every visual aspect, except for the amber yellow scanner that was tracking back and forth on top of the car's grille, the corrupted AI had returned and it looked like he had given himself some upgrades since the last time they met, to make matters even worst, the driver's door opened and from it climbed down Alex Torres, both in front of him where ghosts from the past, both presumed dead after that one battle had concluded…oh how wrong they were…the menacing AI drove forwards some more, the men that where around him stepped aside, obviously afraid of the AI, he knew there was no hiding it now, KARR probably knew he was back online, in response to KARR's approach, he brought his bright red scanner back on, it tracked back and forth in an apparent calm manner, had Mike or any of the others been around, they would've immediately detected the subtle change that this had in comparison to the normal tracking motion, at this moment he was all but calm, no one could possibly remain calm under the ice cold stare that the older AI had. "Dear little brother, I take it you are surprised to see me"

Even the memory of that voice was unsettling, to listen to it back again sent a shiver through the AI's core, but he wouldn't let him know that, first thing there is to know about KARR, never let him know what you think or feel, because he'll use it to his advantage "KARR, indeed, such an…unpleasant surprise, for lack of a better term"

"You disappoint me, truly, such an easy task to get to you, and I thought this was going to take much more, all because of your devotion to that one traitorous human, Michael Knight. One of the many reasons why I am still a better developed AI that you" by the end of the sentence KARR had moved a little closer to KITT and the threatening rumble of his engine was one of the few sounds around

"KARR, that's enough" the rogue AI stared to back off slowly after that, stopping when he was once again next to Torres "I see you've been getting to terms with each other, KITT"

"Agent Torres, I must say I did not believe we would be hearing much of you, not after that one encounter that night"

"as you might already know, things always tend to have an interesting turn of events every once in a while, I have to say, that it was awfully easy for us to get close to you, kind of disappointed about that"

"you of all people should know that neither Michael or I had any other way of solving this dilemma, especially when there are not one, but three guns pointed in your direction"

"that was just a little thing to make sure things worked for us the way we were expecting, I am sure you already noticed that device that we got into you earlier, we'll be needing you to give us access to your AI core, and because I already know you won't cooperate voluntarily, I have no choice but doing it the hard way" another man then came out and plugged in a thick cable to the center of the device that was stuck to KITT "we'll start draining your remaining energy so that we can get this over with quick" he turned around and started to walk away "also, KARR will be keeping you company while we wait, I'm sure you have quite some things to…discuss with each other" as soon as Torres was out of viewing range KITT turned his attention to the computer that had the other end of the cable attached to it, he needed to find a way of getting free, he couldn't allow them to get access to his core, and he knew there was only one way to get rid of the cable…and he was not going to like it.

He focused his power in his rear boosters, once they reached the redline he let the pressure go, breaking the chains in one swift motion, it was then that all hell broke loose…

 _Please review, it helps a lot, if you have any ideas feel free to speak up_


	2. Ch 2 The KITTnapping

**Finally here comes the next chapter, expect regular updates every Wednesday, this will be shorter than the original story because I deleted some and combined some other into one to make them longer. anyway enjoy**

Ch. 2 The KITTnapping

The four government agents stood in the middle of a room with computers and knocked out people littering the floor "I still can't believe this worked…"

"I told you to have a little more faith in us Billy"

"I just didn't think that anyone would be stupid enough to fall for it Zoey…would you have fell for something that stupid?"

"Probably not, but you still did a really good bait Billy"

"What, asking to go to the bathroom counts as a bait? You guys just went all ballistic on them"

"Hey, at least they had tranquilizers instead of actually bullets in those guns"

"Guys, we'll talk about this later" Sarah started "we need to focus on trying to find KITT now that we have access to the computers, we have to find him quick, we can easily take one of the cars this guys have and go find KITT. Billy, Zoe, I'm going to need you two to search through their computer to find him, the sooner the better" the two nodded their heads in agreement "let's go" the three went to the computers, Mike stayed standing behind the three of them, his mind was still filled with the same questions as before, the principal now was actually asking himself if KITT was okay, he knew for a fact the he wasn't coming for them, he probably didn't even knew where they were…hopefully they were still in time… about twenty minutes went by, Mike was already starting to lose the little patience he had remaining, there was still no clue as to where KITT could be and the sedatives that they had shot the people with sure wouldn't last much longer. "Guys" Mike looked up to Billy then

"You found something Billy?"

"Yeah…and I don't think you're going to like it all that much"

"Why, what happened?" Sarah and Zoe turned to look at Billy's screen and then turned to look at Mike with the same shocked expression. "Guys…what's going on?..."

"Mike…it's KARR"

To be honest he wasn't expecting things to work nowhere near the way they were at eh moment, the concentrated turbo boost managed to break the chains, sending him flying above KARR, landing hardly on the ground behind, people scrammed about the place, leaving their stations and running for cover from the two AIs, KARR turned around quickly and started to chase after KITT in blind fury. KITT still had the device attached to him, he was at a clear disadvantage against the other AI and even though fighting him was the last thing he wanted to do, the situation pointed that if he wanted to get a chance at escaping, he needed to fight him and somehow make him break the door that leaded outside, if he managed to do so then there was still a chance he could outsmart him or outrun him once he was out. He was not liking any of what was happening right now, not a single bit…

When he noticed that KARR was already chasing behind him he drove straight for the main entrance, when he was close enough he used his handbrake to keep moving in the direction on the door but moving sideways, before crashing he used his side boosters to propel himself in the opposite direction and stop the momentum that was carrying him towards the wall, he was hoping that KARR wouldn't brake in time and crash right through it, despite all this KARR mimicked his first move to reduce his speed, crashing against the door but not with nearly enough strength to break it, KITT landed closer to him than he had expected and immediately fought for grip in order to escape, to his horror the menacing AI unfolded and transformed, switching to his real form, he chased after the Mustang once more, his engine producing a loud, menacing roar that resonated with the cavernous acoustics of the building's high roof, in this form it took KARR barely any efforts to bring down one of his metal hands and swipe down, effectively sending the car drifting into one of the smaller stations in one side of the room, sending electronics flying in several directions, KITT managed to get out of the mess before one of KARR's smaller missiles landed where he had been standing mere seconds before, as he kept on moving around, the rogue AI stood tall in one spot and turned to chasing KITT with his shoulder guns, several hits managed to land in his target while some more ended up lodged in the some tables and other appliances, in one more attempt at stopping KARR's rampage KITT shot his grappling hook and it got stuck in one of his legs, he gave a quick drive around his legs before pulling back in it, the robot couldn't keep his balance and came back crashing down, the small victory was short lived, since from side doors came running armed men, a few possessed the infamous Knight Research rocket launchers while the others had high powered penetrating rounds, with how low KITT's systems where performing he was sure things were going to end u badly, when he realized his current predicament he immediately devoted most of is available power to his shields in order to have a chance at deflecting at least some for the bullets that where sure to come his way, the rockets…those he just needed to avoid at all costs, even when his shields where at full efficiency those missiles really gave him trouble. KARR stood back up and look menacingly back down to him, the Mustang just stood frozen in place, afraid that one move would bring the firestorm down on him. The men that possessed the rockets started to approach the car face on, the odds where not really in his favor, no matter where he looked, what he did, there was no way out of this situation, slowly he started to back up, some of the people that held the guns came around the back and managed to throw some hooks that got attached to his rear end, they started pulling on him then as the others kept closing in on him, the Mustang kept backing up while roaring his engine in warning, either way, there was nothing he could to get away while avoiding all the threats that surrounded him at the time, eventually they managed to lead him back into the same place he had been before, once again they secured him to the platform, this time securing his front as well in order to avoid a future escape, KARR folded back into his original form and drove out of the hanger once that was done, the cable was attached once more and the process started.

There was nothing much he could do, his current situation left him with very few options that could possibly work, and when he saw all of the hidden weapons they really had, there wasn't much of a fight to put up either, it would either end up shot to pieces or go into an emergency shutdown due to the power drain that was starting to take place, either way, the later seemed like a better possibility and he might even have a fighting chance with it, while the other one meant instant termination, not something he was really looking forwards to…if he managed to block the power drain long enough maybe Mike and the others might be able to find him, if not, well, then at least he was able to fight it, and by god was he going to take that chance to the fullest, devoting all of his resources to placing blocks and diversions that would delay the program that was draining his power, in his particular case it was very different to run out of fuel, and running out of power, if fuel was the case, he would remain active, just not able to use his engine, mainly because most of his central computes was solar powered, but if he manages to run out of power then the computer would shut down once the power got low enough, if the drain continues after that, then even the emergency shut down would fail, leaving him as nothing more than a normal car, that was what he supposed the goal of the people here had, in order to be able to access his core without any issues the emergency shutdown needed to be deactivated. And there was only one way of achieving that. With those thoughts in mind he focused on the task at hand, he was not going to go down without a fight…

It had taken them another ten minutes to find the address of the place where KITT was being kept, to their luck no one had woken up during that time and they had managed to get the keys to one their cars, the initial sock of KARR being back up and working had passes, ad was now replaced by a thousand questions, mainly concerning they why, how and when had all this happened, any why didn't they noticed. Sarah was sure that the team she called to the area after the fight where strictly there to clean the wreckage and dispose of the pieces, no one could've possible known what had happened, much less know which one of all the pieces spread around the field was KARR's AI chip, if said thing had even been able to survive the explosion, all those where things she needed to really look into once this whole mess was over, right now, Mike was driving to the address they got from the computer's files, surprisingly so for Mike, it had been really close where he had left him in the first place, so that meant the call they had received had been sent from where they were being kept. KITT had said that the building they had arrived to was covered with an electromagnetic shield that probably meant that some other building had the same shield that might've been why he wasn't able to detect any other signals from any of the buildings, and KITT was now inside one, inside the shield, he wouldn't be able to send out anything and probably his systems where being affected by it as well, if KARR was in the same building that he was, he wouldn't be able to detect him, while KARR might've improved his systems and bypassed the shield… "Mike…" He turned to look at Sarah then "I know you're worried, we all are, but we are going to get KITT out of there, no matter what"

"Do you have a plan already?"

"Not yet, we need to know what we are going to be facing, besides KARR apparently, and then we can think of a way of getting in"

"if KARR is in there he will know we are there before we even get out of the car, he's the main issue and we need to find a way to get past that, until we have a solution for that al else will be pointless"

"Guys?" Sarah then turned to look at Billy "I think I just found our way past KARR…" he added leaning to grab something from the seats behind him

"What did you get Billy?" at that he sat back down with one of the Knight Research rockets in his hands "we have four of this guys and two rocket launchers. I don't think we can take out KARR, but we might be able to at least stall him or create a distraction"

"They have our rockets?...but how?, I thought they had been decommissioned since that one mission last year…"

"Apparently not, either that or someone stole them and kept up the production. Either way, I think we just got more than what we bargained for, our main focus is KITT, after that we'll track down these rockets and get to the bottom of this"

Once they managed to find exactly the building that the address leaded to they parked a few blocks away in order to stay out view from anything or anyone, Zoe and Billy, rather reluctantly, took the rocket launchers while Mike and Sarah approached to the building, climbing some crates they managed to get a slight vantage point through one of the higher windows in the building, it was a mainly open area with some desks remained in place with various computers and other electronics while some other desks where knocked over and strewn about the place, at the back Mike was able to spot the black shape of his partner and friend, there was a cable attached to something on him that he couldn't see and he was secured to a platform, because of the mess that was still visible he supposed that he had managed to cause some trouble, if KARR was near then that might've been how he ended up trapped once more, what worried him, however, was the fact that KITT's usually bright scanner was now dull and blinking on and off at uneven intervals every once in a while, if they were going to do something, they were running out of time faster than they thought they were. The two shared a look before climbing down and Mike was the first to speak "okay, I have KITT, but something's wrong, we need to hurry up and get to him, KARR doesn't\t seem to be in the area, so we need to act fast before he manages to come back, Billy and Zoe, we need you to create a big enough distraction to draw out as many people as we can"

Zoe took one of the rocket launchers and mounted it on her shoulder "leave that to me, you two go save KITT, I'll meet you around the corner in the car"

"okay, Billy, we need you to cover us as soon as we run in for it, use the smaller gun first, it apparently has some high powered rounds so cover us with that first, as soon as we climb in KITT use the rockets and shoot the main station behind KITT, if they are indeed extracting or copying the information from him we need that destroyed"

"I'll do as best as I can" and with that he went to get the remaining Rockets before positioning himself in the window Mike had climber to before. Mike and Sarah positioned themselves behind one of the smaller side doors and waited for Zoe's signal, and after a few minutes the ground shook as a large explosion was heard not too far away, Sarah turned to look at Mike, mirroring his determined look "I guess that's our signal"

Fighting off the computer was getting harder and harder with every passing second, his emergency shutdown should've taken effect a while ago but he managed to push through it and stay active to fight with whatever remaining power he still had, most of his systems where already offline, but he was not going to give up fighting just yet, he could at least keep it up for another ten minutes before his power was completely drained, suddenly, the power drain slowed way down, he turned his attention to the outside world and found that many where running outside, something had happened and the guy that had been working in the computer next to him ran away as well, the few that remained then started to duck for cover under whatever desk the where able to as bullets rained from above, focusing on the source he felt relieved to see nothing else that Billy shooting around the hangar, keeping people away from where he was, to the far corner there where two figures running in his direction, it took him a while to realize but once they were close enough he finally noticed that it was Mike and Sarah, the later heading straight for the computer that was plugged into the device while Mike ran straight towards him "KITT!, KITT are you okay?, can you hear me?" in response the AI was not able to do much other than slightly boost the intensity of the red scanner for a few seconds, he was quickly going into shutdown and his vocal processors had been offline for a while now, Mike took the answer for what it was and quickly moved to unhook KITT, the back chains where easily removed, the ones on the front he was only able to remove from the ground, but not from the car, Sarah was typing away at the computer, trying to stop the program that was running in it "Sarah, you need to hurry up there, KITT's not doing too good and people are starting to come back in!"

"I'm trying my best here Mike!, this program is like nothing I've ever seen" Mike looked around for something that he could use to detach the cable from KITT, pulling it wasn't working, so instead he took a broken piece of metal that was laying around the corner, he rose it high above his head and brought it down hard over the large cable, it cut right through it letting out a flurry of sparks and electricity, Sarah jumped back from the computer, startled, and looked at Mike who simply threw the metal to a side before turning to answer "there, problem solved, get in, Billy can destroy the computers with the rockets" both got inside then, Mike turned on the key a few times, the engine stalled and refused to start, but after a few goes it finally roared to life, Mike looked directly at the flickering blue orb in the dashboard, and then to Sarah "I'm going to be driving, we need to get away from here as fast as possible, so hang on tight" Sarah nodded before Mike pushed the car to go forward, it started slow at first but they started to pick up speed quickly, as soon as they were a safe distance away from the computers one of the rockets landed in it, effectively destroying it and whatever information it might've stored, shortly after another rocket landed in the large doors that KITT had come in through first, creating a hole with just the perfect size for the AI to drive through, Billy climbed down and ran to where Zoe said she was going to be waiting, he climbed in just as Mike and Sarah drove by in KITT, the two took off behind the AI, driving quickly away from them, looking for any side roads that they could take in order to stay out of their sight, after a little while of driving around they started to drop their speed, when Sarah gave them the word in order to save KITT some power, even after that, along the way back to the SSC KITT's engine had stopped twice, and it was getting harder each time to turn it back on, by the time they reached the base they had to use the two remaining chains that where still attached to KITT's front so that he could be pulled in the rest of the way inside.

He still couldn't believe he had been able to avoid his shutdown for so long, his engine had given out twice now and it had taken the help from the car where Zoe and Billy where driving to manage to get it back up the second time, after that it didn't take too long until the little power he had left finally gave out, at last he reached the point in which the amount of power he had left wasn't even enough to keep moving his own weight, his speed started decreasing until he had stopped completely and couldn't manage to move again, Mike and Sarah tried helping by betting out to give him an initial push, but he really didn't weight as much as a normal Mustang did, all the extra parts and computer systems in him made him much heavier, the two were not able to push him more than a few meters before giving out, in the end they realized that he still had the two chains attached in the front, so they got those attached to the car Billy and Zoe had, managing to start moving, at a slower pace, but moving nevertheless, he had to stay aware of his surroundings, he couldn't go through the risk of letting his systems shut down while he was still out in the open with his team around and no way of protecting themselves, he had to at least make it back to their base, before being sure there was no risk in shutting down. It took them close to twenty minutes but after a while he was able to spot the outline of the hangar, the moment they entered the building and the doors closed behind him his systems weren't able to keep working with the lack of power and one by one started to fail until the last thing he was able to see was the opening doors of the entrance to the tunnel that leaded to the kitt cave.

If it wasn't because the two of them knew that KITT was running out of power the two would've been incredibly alarmed at the sight of the last remaining systems shutting down, several warnings flickered in the screen as system failure flashed in the top corners of the windshield, every light was flickering and as they positioned KITT in his gimbal the engine gave out, Mike and Sarah climbed down from the Mustang as Billy got down from the car while Zoe went back to drive the car outside. Billy walked straight to the device that was stuck to KITT's side with the small piece of the cable still attached to it, it looked like nothing he had ever seen, the round device still had a few lights blinking on and off, there was nothing in it that looked like a way of removing it "You managed to figure anything out about it Billy?"

"Not really Sarah, I've never seen anything like this before and I have no idea how we could take it off, it's really strange"

"We know that this was what was draining KITT's energy somehow while bypassing his systems and defenses without much effort, once we manage to take it off we could really use some more research on it"

"Any ideas on how to get it off?"

"Because of the lack of apparent release mechanisms the only thing that I can think of right now is by trying to see if it has any specific electromagnetic frequency and then match said frequency in order for it to just fall off"

"Wouldn't that take a while?"

"Probably, but what other thing can we do, this might be the fastest way to do this"

"I guess you might be right…well, let's get to it then, the sooner we get this off the sooner we can help KITT" Billy then walked off to get some equipment while Sarah stayed in her place, she gave a look over the shape of the Mustang, it had a duller look than it usually had because his Nano skin was deactivated, but otherwise he looked relatively fine, noting that he couldn't fix himself once he was brought back online, she turned around and found Mike sitting in one of the chairs in the large desk in front of the gimbal, looking at the AI, she approached lightly and placed a hand on his shoulder "he's okay Mike, you don't have to worry now that we have him here"

"…how long do we have to wait until he's back?"

"First we need to remove the device that was draining his power, after that we need to plug him into the base's power central and wait for him to fully recharge"

"I suppose that is going to take a while"

"Well…because KITT's systems where almost completely drained from their power it will take a few hours for him to be completely recharged and complete the system reboot…but he really did more than what I expected"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, with KITT there is an emergency system that kicks in if the power gets below certain level, if that happens the computer shuts itself down in order to protect itself from any threat, KITT knew that if that was the case here they would continue to drain his power faster and ultimately they wouldn't have any trouble reaching his systems by hand once the power was completely drained, instead, he fought back the emergency shutdown and pushed through it while still fighting off the computer and slowing down the drain, that was why he went into full shutdown as soon as we entered, the small amount of power he had gave out before arriving"

"He fought the shutdown?...I thought that wasn't a thing"

"It's not supposed to…what I'm really worried about is if there is any internal damage done by the drain that we can't see, for that we'll have to wait for KITT to power back up and perform some scans, but considering that KARR probably had an encounter with KITT I'm surprised that there's not much damage to the shell"

"There shouldn't be any anyway, he had his shields and yet KARR somehow managed to get past that?"

"Not really, we believe that that device is more than just for draining power, I suppose it might also block or diminish some other systems"

"Yeah…you never told me what they wanted from him, what else you found in those files"

"They were looking for him"

"Well yeah…that's obvious but-"

"No Mike, I mean they were looking for who he literally is, not a single system in particular, but him as a while, the coding of his systems in order to recreate him"

"But they already have KARR, why not use his systems?"

"Because we both know that his systems are flawed, while KITT's aren't\t and are easier to work with, it would be way easier to slightly corrupt a perfect system than entirely fix one that is already highly corrupted, and KARR wouldn't let anyone access his systems"

"I guess it makes more sense…but why would they want to clone him?..."

"That is for them to know and us to find out" Just then Billy came back pulling a small cart with some equipment on it, shortly after Zoe came back through the entrance door "Hey Zoey"

"You got anything out of that thing in KITT yet Sarah?"

"Not yet, we're working on removing it first, by the way, what did you do back there to create that explosion?"

"Oh that little thing, I just found the place where they store all their cars and shot a rocket at the center of the place"

"Well that would make it harder for them to move around for a while. Mind helping us remove that thing?"

"Let's get to it, the faster the better"

It had taken around an hour for them to figure out what the exact frequency of the device was, but after some trial and error the device fell to the floor when the frequencies matched, Billy and Zoe took it to one of their stations and started to work with it while Sarah waited for Mike to find the special cable that plugged in directly into KITT's main systems in order for him to receive the direct charge, once he got the cable Sarah opened the Mustang's trunk and reached in to plug the cable in the special port in the engine compartment

"Well, now what?"

"Now, Mike, we need to wait for his systems to reach their full charge again, you guys can go get some rest, it's getting late, I'll stay here wait until he's back, I'll call you guys when he does if you want to" Billy and Zoe nodded their heads in agreement and and left to their quarters, Mike opted to stay in the room as well, he wanted to be around when the recharge was finally over. The hours went by and the graph that measured the charge level in the large screen, the line kept a steady rhythm and the clock signaled there was still at least another two hours until full charge, once again Mike turned back to his phone and leaned down on the chair, a few seats away from him was Sarah, playing with an empty cup of coffee with little interest "Sarah, you can go if you want, I can stay here, I promise I'll tell you when the he's almost done charging"

"I'm fine Mike. I can handle an all-nighter better than some of you have"

"Hey I was just asking, don't be mad at me for worrying about you"

"why would you worry?...I'm sorry Mike, I didn't mean to sound so harsh, I just really want this to be over right now, it's too much crap for one day. I just want to make sure KITT's okay before doing anything else"

"go get some sleep Sarah, I promise I'll go get you as soon as he's done recharging…"

"…promise you'll wake me up Mike"

"I will, now go have some sleep" after that Sarah stood up and lazily walked away, Mike moved to a more comfortable couch that was resting in one side of the place, le laid across the thing and continued to use his phone, it seemed to be working in keeping him awake so far. The charm lasted a little less than another hour before said thing fell to the floor as Mike too fell asleep. The cave remained in almost complete silence with the exception of the beeping and humming of computers, the atmosphere remained the same for a little while longer. The large screen suddenly came back to life, the graph had stopped moving and it now displayed a message that appeared in the center of it, the same message was displayed in the smaller computer in the desks "Charge 100%" a few seconds later and a louder humming sound filled the room as all the system sin the Mustang started to come back online, the red scanner came back on and after a few seconds resumed its calming tracking motion.

He felt the moment when he started to receive his energy back, it was a large continuous stream of power, a sensation that he last felt when he was first rough online, it was a very revitalizing sensation, time was no longer a factor for as long as he divided the energy into his different systems, without even noticing more and more signals started to flash his natural sapphire color signaling their full charge, after a while all his systems where back at full charge and he was ready to start his system once more, he got ready and activated everything, he regained his view of the world in front of him as several system schematics and measures starts to appear around his vision, after a minute or two he was back to normal, after that was done he set off his Nano skin to repair the few dents that had been caused by KARR. He took his attention back to his surroundings then, it would look like everyone had gone to get some rest, next to him, however, was Mike sleeping in the couch, his phone was laying on the floor next to him, he had probably fallen asleep a little while, and he couldn't blame them, after what they had gone through in the span of a single day it was only logical for them to be tired, with that he sat back in himself and waited, he still needed someone to extract the power cable from his engine compartment before he could close his hood, true it wasn't the most pleasant thing for him to have to keep his hood open for much longer, but what else could he really do at the moment?. For the rest of the night he stayed making sure that none of his systems had been damaged, and apparently everything was normal, there wasn't any malfunctions and everything was fully charged and operating at 100% efficiency.

The rest of the night went quick and soon enough the sun started to peek over the horizon, the first one to get up was Sarah, who came into the room in a hurried fashion "Good morning Sarah"

"KITT! You're back, how are you, are your systems all in order?"

"Yes Sarah, I already performed several tests and everything is working at optimum efficiency. There is nothing to worry about"

"I talk mike to go wake me up as soon as you where back up, did he fall asleep too?"

"By the time I had finished my system reboot he was already asleep, so yes"

"I knew I should've stayed here until you were ready, I'm sorry KITT"

"There is no need to be sorry, it was a long day for everyone, I don't blame you for being tired"

"I know you don't, but I would've liked to help you out in the reboot"

"Its fine, I still require of your assistance for one more thing"

"Really?...what is that KITT?"

"Would you kindly remove the power cable from my engine compartment so that I can close my hood?"

"Oh! Yeah of course" Sarah approached the Mustang and leaned into the engine compartment, she gave the cable a few twists to remove the locks and then plugged it out, and she straightened back up and reached up to close the Mustang's hood "there you go KITT, good as new"

"Thank you Sarah, I really appreciate it"

"Anytime KITT|"

Shortly after that happened, Mike finally woke up to an angry Sarah yelling at him for falling asleep and not waking her up, of course KITT jumped to cover him before he could even come up with an excuse for it, a while later Billy and Zoe followed and the four started to get to their usual daily routine, after they had all gotten something to eat and had changed their clothes, the four where currently in the kitt cave in their respective places, then Sarah called out to everyone

"Okay guys, we all know what we need to do now, we saw that those people are getting their hands on some pretty powerful, expensive and rare guns, we need to find out how and why, as well as find out why they needed to clone KITT's programing for. you all know what do, let's make this as quick as possible" with that the three nodded and focused on their stations, each one focusing on a certain task, they were going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what..


	3. Ch 3 A Knight's Fall

**I know that I just said last week that I eould publish every wednesday and I failed to do so now...but I was out on vacation and forgot to bring my computer, let's just say that I'll update once a week fom now on ^^**

 _ **Ch. 2 A Knight's fall**_

For the following few days after the incident they devoted all of their resources to trying to get any information or clue as to how those people had gotten to KARR and the equipment they had, the search became much easier after KITT had told them that Torres was with them, said news left everyone in shock for a few seconds, the four of them had seen him die, yet KITT had the footage that proved otherwise, after the initial news they all started to give another approach to their search, Mike was sitting in a side of the room, looking at everyone in front of him, ever since he started working back in the SSC he never really liked the guy, but he managed to push through it in the end, when he got word that he had been the one behind the SSC's shutdown and KITT's deactivation the fury started to boil back in him, how dare he throw everything they had all worked for just to get KARR back, Graiman himself had told him before that the AI was reckless and that there was no safe way of fixing his programing, yet he ignored him completely and decided to use KITT's AI chip in him, of course it failed miserably, and he paid for his mistakes that very night…or so they thought, apparently he survived the attack and found a way to bring KARR back, probably tweaking some of his programing to make him more cooperative, or maybe he had just reached an agreement with him and that way he was able to control him to an extent. Whatever he had done with him, he was going to stop him, there was no other way around, and if they had the chance they would take KARR with them as well, he was sure KITT had a similar idea, probably less…destructive, but he knew for a fact that the AI didn't like the man either, and he had a long term conflict with KARR, so he was probably going to agree with him to go face them when they got a location, at the moment it looked like they were going to be able to track down the guns than the location where they were probably hiding, so they started to focus more on that, maybe then they would get more information that could lead them to them and find them "Mike"

The man looked up to see Sarah in front of him "oh, sorry Sarah, I was…thinking"

"yeah, I suspected as much. Listen, I know you are angry at all this and you want to get to Torres and KARR, but we need to get to whoever is getting him the guns, after that we can focus on finding them, and I need you to focus on this first"

"Don't worry Sarah, I'll get those guns and see if I can get some more information as to where those two are hiding"

"and please be careful, we got a possible are where whoever is getting the guns might be stationed, it's quite far, so I suggest you two start moving as soon as you're ready" to that Mike simply nodded before leaving the room to get ready, Sarah turned back to look at the map that was now splayed in the computer, after a few seconds later she turned around to look at the AI, the slower tracking motion of his scanner gave away that he was deeply concentrated in something else, she was able to see the slight blue reflection on the car's seats, meaning he had something out in his HUD

Sarah walked forwards a few steps so that she was directly in front of him, she gave a few light knocks on his hood to call his attention "I'm spry Sarah, I didn't notice you where there"

"it's fine KITT, I know you were still searching for KARR and Torres"

"…how did you-"

"you and Mike are starting to be more like one another as time goes by, that and also I know you want to find them just as much as he does"

"in all honesty my main focus is on KARR, he is way more dangerous and unpredictable, and he can stay hidden for longer"

"I know that KITT, but I need you both to focus on this first, then we can continue looking for them, I need you to keep Mike on this mission"

"I am sure that won't be an issue, I will inform you as soon as we enter the area you found, if we find anything that can lead us to the guns dealer we'll be sure to send you all the information we can get and work on finding KARR from there"

"and if we find KARR, we find Torres" a second after that Mike came back into the room carrying a small bag with things he might need, KITT opened his trunk for him then "you guys be careful okay KITT?"

"there is nothing to worry about Sarah"

"I hope you're right KITT…" Sarah took a few steps back as Mike closed the trunk and walked over to the driver's side, opening the door

"all ready to go, you guys already sent KITT the location?"

"it's all set to go Mike, remember what I told you, and please be careful" Mike shot Sarah a small smile before sitting down inside the car, the engine came back to life with a loud roar that settled into a grumble as the gimbal turned around and the entry doors opened to grant them access to the outside world. When they finally stopped turning the Mustang shot out the tunnel, picking up speed at a very high rate, the Mustang shot out of the hangar less than a minute later and soon he was already on the road that they had to take to their assigned location, soon enough Mike let go of the wheel and left KITT to drive, the car's HUD was up and showing the same map that was in the SSC's big screen, but now it showed a red dot near the beginning of the bright blue line that marked the route they needed to take to get to their destination, said thing was occupying almost the whole space with the exception of the digital speedometer and other stats that rested in the bottom right corner of the windshield, for now, there was nothing else the two could do other than wait.

The journey went by with ease and they managed to arrive to the place where they suspected the guns dealer was by sunset, for the following few hours KITT drove around scanning the area to see if he could find anything that could lead them to the guy's exact location, Mike, in the other hand, opted by going on foot around areas that KITT wasn't able to go to, for the first bit nothing seemed out of the ordinary, KITT couldn't find any traces of said missiles anywhere in the area, after the two searched individually around for a while they got back together "KITT, contact the SSC, there is nothing around here" the AI complied and a second later the call was in "what's wrong Mike?"

"Sarah there is nothing around here, KITT and I have been looking for a few hours now but c=we came up empty"

"that doesn't make any sense, all the evidence we have points there, they have to be"

"maybe you got the wrong area, what if we look somewhere else in the city, they might be around"

"no, stay in the area, they have to be there. We'll look into it here and if we find something else we'll tell you guys right away" before Mike could protest the call ended. The man laid back in his seat and looked around with a sigh "KITT are you sure there's nothing our of the ordinary around here?"

"I am certain Mike, there is not even a trace of the Missile's signal"

There was a minute of silence before Mike's look brightened as he turned to look at KITT's voice modulator "I think I know why you haven't been able to detect any of the missile's"

"why is that"

"because remember that last time you had to use a specialized program, right?"

"yes, but that was what I had been using"

"I know but hear me out here, the program basically detected the missile's specific radio frequency, said frequency could be changed or altered somehow, maybe if you adjust your program to a different frequency we might be able to find them"

"I good idea, but it might take a while to scan through all the possible frequencies"

"then let's get started, the sooner we are over with this the sooner we can go look for KARR and Torres"

The Mustang did as instructed and started to scan over the area, cycling the program to search for the next available frequency every time the scans came back empty, Mike could just look at the list of frequencies that was splayed on the windshield, how every minute or so the one on the op of the list turned red before disappearing, as the one underneath it scrolled to the top, repeating the same action after a little. This process went on for about an hour, night was already upon them and there was still not a lock on the correct frequency, Mike was starting to think that he might've been wrong and this was just a waste of time, he was about to tell KITT to call back the SSC when a beeping sound filled the cabin, the man looked up to see that the frequency that was on top of the list was not glowing green, nest to the list a map came up, showing several red dots inside a building some blocks away from where they were parked "KITT…are those what I think they are?"

"I believe so, very good Michael, you plan worked"

"great, send a message back to Sarah, tell her we found the missiles and we are moving in"

The Mustang did as he was told and started his engine, pulling out of his parking spot and driving towards where they believed the missiles where located, it was a relatively small building inside a fenced off area, there was a gate with a single guard standing inside the little cabin and two larger trucks where parked inside, in a few places they could see lights that where on inside the building, KITT was able to detect that there were about ten people inside the place and several wooden crates with various assortments of guns, two of those contained the missiles they were looking for. Their plan was simple enough, take out the guard, create a distraction and retrieve the missiles while the police are on their way to take out the rest of the guys and remaining guns…should be simple enough…

KITT parked around the corner of the building that was in front of the complex, Mike had climbed out and was making his way to the entrance, the Mustang had already created a loop of the camera that was there in order to avoid being detected by anyone on the inside, the only thing Mike needed to do now was lure the guard out of the cabin so that KITT could shoot him with one of his tranquilizer darts, the car's nose was peeking from around the corner, waiting to get a clear shot. Mike walked casually by and knocked on the window, the guard looked up from his phone and stood from his chair, opening a small section on the window so that he could be heard "What do you want?"

"I need an address, I wanted to see if you could point me in the right direction"

"why don't you go look up a map or something?"

"my phone ran out of battery and my car's running out of fuel, I just need you to point me in the direction of a gas station"

"just go west from here, you'll find one, now get lost" he then closed the small opening the window had, once again Mike knocked on the window, the man ignored him, he knocked again and again, the guard got up from his place and came out then "Look, if you want a gas station take that street up two blocks ro the right and you'll get there, now, get lost!" A low whistling sound was the only thing that could be heard as the guard fell to the ground asleep "don't worry, I'll get lost alright" Mike picked up the guard and placed him back in the chair, if anyone comes out they'll just think he fell asleep, not that he got knocked out, KITT drove forwards as Mike opened the gate, the car stopped in the other side and Mike closed it again before climbing on the car "good job Michael"

"Thanks, I would've chosen another approach but yours works too"

"do you have a plan to get the missiles?"

"I kind of do" he said looking at the car's voice modulator with a mischievous smile "so KITT…how well do you play bait?"

"Excuse me?"

The people inside the building where sorting out their various types of guns into several shipments they needed to make, one in particular sat in front of a larger table with papers and orders to fill in, he was the one making sure everything was in order , his people where moving around and some were ready to meet their buyers, it was just another night, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, he started to have a walk around the place, out of the corner of his eye and over the sound of moving people and boxes he turned around to see some sort of cable that was coming through on of the open windows on the top part of the building, he followed said cable with his eyes until it ended behind a box not too far from where he was, he called his men immediately who all grabbed their handguns and started to slowly walk behind him, they all moved around the front of the box where the cable ended, two of them grabbed the box and pushed it to a side as everyone pointed their guns to where the box had been, yet they lowered them when they realized there was only a small hook there, said cable started to retract slowly, everyone started to follow, at one point they gave up on the hook and decided go get out of the building to be able to see who or what was in the other side of the window, the group moved together and stopped abruptly when they heard a loud clank, after a second they walked hurriedly to the source of the sound and found the hook lying on the ground below the window, once again it started to move away until it was no longer visible, hidden by the darkness produced by the shadow of the building as well as the lack of artificial light, the group stopped and only three kept walking towards the place the hook was last scene, everyone stopped when they heard the loud sound of an engine and raised their guns, the headlights of the mysterious car came on, blinding them for a few seconds, they all still kept their weapons up high while they shouted amongst them as well as to the driver of said car to get out or they would shoot, this seemed to be of little to no importance for the driver that ignored all threats, seeing this the group started to open fire, but their bullets simply fell to the ground after hitting the car and doing nothing more than bouncing off, few of the men noticed this and stopped shooting, after some more seconds the others followed as they ran out of ammo, after this the car roared its engine twice before spinning his back wheels in place, creating a large cloud of white smoke, after that the sound then suddenly stopped, and everyone was left disoriented and confused in a cloud of white smoke, finally cleared out there was nothing where the car had once been, the group split up and started to look around for any signal as to where had the car disappeared to, but there was nothing that could help, they headed back inside and continued their rounds, not even five minutes later and a large squad of cops arrived at the scene, painting the building in red and blue lights a few blocks away stood Mike inside KITT, awaiting for the SSC's call

"Well KITT, my plan worked to perfection, twice in a day, this has to be a new sort of record. Also, you did perfect bait"

"I'm very happy for you Michael, let's just say that even though I doubted you plan for a few seconds, you planning was very good" just then the call came in and Sarah was on the Mustang's windshield "well you guys did it, you retrieved the missiles and managed to take the whole group down, how did you do it Mike?"

"Let's just say that I had to send KITT fishing for some gun dealers, and they all fell for the bait"

"Hmm…KITT?"

"It is quite true Sarah"

"Well…at least it's done, you managed to get any information from their computer KITT?"

"I believe I got all that I needed in order for us to be able to find Torres"

"And where Torres is-"

"KARR will be as well" Mike finished

"Exactly. Good job guys, come back and we can get ready to find them"

"Yeah, sure Sarah, but…is there any other way to take the missiles back? I mean, I don't really feel very comfortable with three weapons of mass destruction in the trunk and three more in the backseat"

"you'll be fine Mike, you have KITT with you" the call ended there and rather reluctantly the two started the drive back, Mike quickly decided to get some sleep while KITT drove, making sure to avoid any bumps or holes in the road, just in case. In all honesty there really was not much for them to worry about.

Mike had been asleep for the past two hours now, it didn't surprise him, considering the hour, the rest of them at base where probably asleep as well, meanwhile he was watching the mixed shades of gray disappear under him as he drove at high speeds, after considering things for a while he decided to set his auto pilot to do the driving and he started to focus on using the information he had gathered to try and get a proper location for KARR, hat was his main worry, KARR was really way more volatile than they expected, it didn't matter that Torres had managed to get to an agreement with him, the tables could easily be turned. To be honest, even though Torres was never someone he like to be around, he knew that in the end KARR was going to kill him, and that made his primary directive kick in, the latter being the preservation of human life, even if it was someone he didn't really liked. Getting rid of having the constant danger of having the rogue AI around would just be a bonus, the main purpose for him war getting rid of him to avoid any more deaths. With a determined sigh he started to devote most of his resources to analyzing the data and getting a location, it would probably take a while, but at the moment he had time to spare, there were still some more hours of driving before they arrived to the SSC, and it he had a location by the time they got there, it would make their leave quicker and easier, the less time they lost the better…

The two arrived back at the base a few hours before sunrise, Mike got down from the car and got the missiles out of it, he placed them on the side before moving to his room to catch a few more hours of sleep, by then KITT had been able to narrow the possible locations down to five, hopefully by the time they all woke up in a few hours he was going to have the exact location where they were going to find both KARR and Torres. What was left of the night went quick by for KITT, Sarah was the first on to come back in the room "oh, hi KITT, what time did you guys arrive?"

"About three hours ago, Mike went back to his quarters to get some more sleep"

"You guys did really good back there, that little organization is done for good"

"It was all due to Mike's plan"

"Well, we got the missiles back and you got more information that could lead us to where Torres and KARR are hiding, mind sending me what you got to start looking for a location?"

"Actually Sarah, I had been looking into it through our way back and while I waited for any of you to wake up, I already have narrowed the list down to three possible locations based on the information retrieved, the three are relatively close to each other so that means we have one larger general area around where they could be hiding"

"Very good KITT, like always, let's just wait for the others to come by and we'll discuss what to do next"

"Mike and I can go and search for a possible location on foot, it might save us some time"

"Yeah, but it will risk you two being detected by KARR"

"Then that would make our work even easier"

Sarah got closer to the Mustang and shot it a small smile "KITT I know you want to get this over with, we all do, but going out and use yourself as bait to lure him out, is not the answer. We need to be careful and keep the element of surprise to your advantage, KARR is very powerful, and you know that better than any of us. We'll discuss what to do and narrow them further, then you two can go and finish this off" KITT decided to end it there and just flashed hi scanner in understanding, Sarah turned back to the computers as KITT send in the progress he had made to let Sarah keep at it, a few minutes later Billy and Zoe, the two started to help Sarah as well into getting a location, after another two hours they had finally managed to get it, Mike was already in the room by then, and he was currently leaning in one of KITT's sides, watching the map and radar that was projected in the big screen "so, when do KITT and I leave?"

"We still have to see what our plan is going to be, you can't just go out guns blazing"

"Well that was exactly what my plan entitles"

"You have to remember that this is KARR you are talking about"

"I know, and that is the main reason why I want to get this over with"

"yeah, but blindingly charging to them is going to get you both killed, we need to have a plan"

"actually Sarah" KITT started:" the longer we wait the more time we give them to be able to know that we are into them and that we took down their main supplier, if that happens, they could easily move without being detected and all that we've done so far would be for nothing, our best chance would be to go now and hope for the best"

"Hope for the best?! Are you serious right now? KITT, no, it's too dangerous"

"There is nothing else we can do at the moment Sarah. Would you rather wait another hour or two and lose their tracks for a long time, or risk going out now knowing where they are ant having a chance at taking them down?"

"I would say take them down as soon as possible…But I don't think it's worth losing any of you two"

Mike then took a step forwards "Well Sarah, In all honesty, there is nothing you can do to stop us from leaving, I am the driver, and we both have the same general idea"

Sarah's face, as well as Billy and Zoe's took a slightly shocked expression, Sarah's turning slowly into anger "You wouldn't dare…" Mike stood up straight and headed for the driver's door "Michael…" the man sad down and closed the door behind him as the gimbal started to turn "Michael!" the doors started to open as the Mustang's engine roared to life as the car started to take off, the sound quickly grew silent in the distance as Sarah stood where he was

"That man is very brave" Zoe said, looking incredulously as Sarah turned around to look at her, then, Billy continued "Or very stupid…" the two women turned to look at the tech, after a second Sarah stood straight "this was bound to happen eventually, bring stats up guys, we need to give them as much support as we can"

"You're taking this way too calmly Sarah"

"No Billy, if KARR doesn't kill them, I will once they get back"

"You do know that Sarah is going to kill us right Mike?"

"yeah, probably, but it's better to face her wrath right now and not have to try and keep tabs on KARR for months to come, I want to end this now…plot the most direct route to the location we got, use your attack mode to get there faster if you need to, I don't want them knowing of our involvement with their guns and running away"

"Do you really think KARR would run away? If anything he would rather know where I am and come charging through"

"True, but Torres wouldn't, he'd take him and hide for the next five months and wait for the moment to strike"

"Do you really think he had control over KARR?"

"Don't you?"

"Not at all, the most that he could've done was reach an agreement with him, but you and I know that his main goal is terminate me, he would not let someone like him to get in his way, he is very unpredictable and dangerous, the reason that I want this to end is to avoid the loss of any more human lives"

"You do remember that this is Torres and his minions we are talking about here right, the people that got you a few days ago?"

"Yes, I know, but because they are still, in the end, humans, my primary directive takes place over anything else"

"So the reason you want to go so fast is to basically protect everyone involved?"

"For the most part, yes" After that Mike jus nodded lightly in understanding before going back to focusing on their task at hand, the two kept going off on their way, KITT received a message from the SSC shortly after, he decided to keep it to himself since it was of trivial information that Mike probably didn't necessarily need to know, said message only contained the coordinates for the exact location where they knew Torres was located based off of the information gathered from the guns dealer's computer, but other than that they were all in the dark as to what could be awaiting for them where they were heading, and KITT was sure that when they got to the place that there was going to be nothing they could do to find whatever was inside with them, he knew for a fact that they were going to be using the same sort shield that he had seen before, they were going to go directly into the jaws of the beast with nothing to their advantage other than the element of surprise

They had been parked around the corner of the building where they now knew their two targets where, judging by the cars and trucks going in and out, KITT had been lying in stealth mode trying to find a way of hacking through the shield around the building to have an idea of what could be expecting them on the inside, they had had no such luck so far and they were starting to think they were going to have to go in like that, the SSC had been working on it as well but got similar results, there was no apparent way of getting through the encryption or sending any sort of scan through the shield. "Sarah this is not working, KITT and I are going to go in"

"You don't know what can be in there Mike, it's not safe!"

"You think we don't know that? It's at least something, if we stay here we'll just be wasting time"

"Would you rather get captured or killed?! It's not worth the risk!, we'll take another hour to see if we can get something, if now, you two are coming back and we are calling this mission off"

"if we leave there is no way of knowing if we are going to be able to get to them again, they'll know eventually that we got their guns and move out, I am not going away now Sarah" with that he ended the call and looked back to KITT "You know we have to do this"

"I know, but there is some reason to Sarah's words…but I still believe this might be out best chance to get to them"

"So do I…KITT terminate all connection to the SSC, don't bring it back up unless I tell you to, no matter what, you hear me?"

"All connection with the SSC has been terminated"

"Good, let's get this over with KITT"

Torres had been going over the documents for his last shipments for the past two hours or so, he needed to make sure that there wasn't a single flaw on them, if he was going to make this work he needed to het this papers done and send them as soon as possible, Graiman had never approver of AIs such as KITT for military use, he always thought otherwise, the unlimited possibility of having unmanned armored vehicles drive into a war without the risk of any deaths, let alone how infinitely better a computer is than a man, besides, wasn't KARR destined for said purposes already when they tested him back in Iraq? His only problem was that he needed to copy KITT's entire program in order for his plan to work, he couldn't use KARR for two simple facts, the first being that he wouldn't let anyone access his systems, the second being that his programing was faulty and volatile, while KITT's was easier to work with, and all he needed to do to be able to use it was to alter that core program that forbid it from taking human lives, even though he retained attention mainly from a few military organizations, his main buyer had nothing to do with the government, he didn't know why he was interested hi having a little group of AIs for his own, nor did he care, as long as he complied with what they had agreed on, if he didn't…well, he still had KARR on his side, the AI had only agreed to work with him if he gave him access to KITT once he was done copying the program, whatever conflict the two AIs had he didn't care, as long as KARR stayed away from him after he couldn't care less "sir?" he looked up from his papers then to one of his workers "what is it?"

"We got word from one of our dealers, the guy that we got our guns from got taken down last night, the police didn't say anything about any missiles, I think they were stolen"

"yeah…and I think I know exactly who did it…stop everything, get everyone ready to move out, we have to go before they find out where we are, leave nothing that can give out our presence, and do it quick" the worker nodded before running off and out of the room, heading to where the rest of the people where, Torres gathered his papers and stored them in a briefcase, he loaded a cleansing program on the laptop he had before closing it, his phone started ringing shortly after that, he answered quickly after identifying the caller "what is it?"

"They are here…"

"Then take them down, do whatever you have to do, just remember the conditions you and I are working under, bring me KITT, you can have him after I get his programing' the call ended immediately after that, he started heading towards the back of the building where a car was already waiting for him, several trucks where already being loaded with the equipment they had, but there was still much left.

KARR started his engine and started to move from his place inside the main open area if the building, those that where currently around him quickly scrammed to a side when they heard him, they did good, he took off through the main doors and out of the building, following KITT's signal, his little brother had missed the new upgrades he got, a new system that blocked his signal output and made him undetectable for the most part, as well as another system that allowed him to detect certain hidden frequencies, and his brothers happened to be one of them, even if he thought he was safe by hiding in his stealth mode., he wouldn't even know what hit him… making sure of staying out of direct visual contact the AI drove around the complex and positioned himself around the corner a block away from where KITT was, now it was his turn to have some fun…

KITT had barely any time to react and activate his restrain system before the impact to prevent Mike from crashing into the side window, he was not able to detect his signal even now that he had crashed directly into him and was pinning him against the wall he was next to "KITT what's going on?!" before he could answer KARR caught his attention "What's wrong KITT, can't find my signal?" he said with a sadistic tone to his words "I have the upper hand now, and I will make sure that it stays that way" KITT managed to get free from KARR's grip and quickly drove around the corner "KITT what the hell are you doing?!" Mike asked as KITT braked to a stop sliding to a side while opening his door to throw Mike out "I have to take care of KARR, keep him distracted, you go inside the building and find Torres, they are taking their weapons out as we speak, you should be able to take one without much trouble" Mike nodded before getting up and running away, KITT closed his door and turned around in time to see the opposing AI come around the corner, they were face to face with each other, engines revving in challenge and at the ready "You haven't changed one bit, brother, still the same naïve fool as before. While I have upgraded myself greatly"

"I might still be the same to you, but that won't make a difference as to the outcome in this fight, and you know it"

"Enough! I am the original, the first, therefor I am the greatest, and I shall turn out victorious after this!"

"Do you want to find out? Without that device I had last time, the odds are even KARR" in response the older AI gunned his engine loudly, action that KITT mimicked, making the slight difference in the two's sounds evident, the two immediately took off towards each other in a game of chicken to see who would give out first, as KITT had been expecting, KARR was the one that chose to turbo boost over him, his self-preservation programing kicking in and forcing him to avoid a head on collision that could damage him, KITT turned around quickly and took after the moving shape of his brother, who was struggling to bring the momentum from the boost under control, he had to brake abruptly, ending with a sideways drift, stopping barely before hitting the wall of another building, however before he could completely regain himself KITT came out and took back the same attack that KARR had used on him, ramming him in the side and pinning him to the wall, the older AI's struggled to break free from the hold but it was proving to be unsuccessful, as his attempts failed he unfolded himself with a loud roar from his engine, seeing this KITT immediately started to back up to get some space between them, managing to barely avoid one of KARR's hands coming down where he had been a second before, the two AI stared each other down once again, the robot's larger statue looming over the car as he backed away even more, KARR took this to his advantage and started to move forwards.

Mike had managed to get one of the guns without being noticed, he found his way into the building and was trying to get to anything that he could get any information from, he managed to sneak his way into a single door that was in the back of the building, inside rested nothing more than a closed laptop on a desk, he holstered the gun he had and approached the laptop, he opened it to find a program running on it, the cleansing was almost complete, he quickly managed to close the program and managed to get access to the files that remained, soon he came to realize that this had been Torres' computer, he started to flip over some files, until he stopped with a certain file that had a different class name than the others "A.I.P." he opened the file and found two more the first one had multiple files inside each one with the respective series of letters and numbers starting with KI.A.I.P 002, KI.A.I.P. 003 and so on, he then went to the other file, which to his eyes possessed a very peculiar name "KARR A.I.P." inside said file remained just one other " KR.A.I.P.001" inside the file he found many documents, all sharing the letters and numbers with slight changes to them, he picked a random file and opened it, there where schematics and blueprints for a computer, many things from this he couldn't really understand but one thing he knew when he saw it, the blueprint had a familiar piece of technology that looked very similar to what KITT's original AI chip had been, he closed that and opened another file, this one had a blueprint for what looked like a car that had been stripped of its parts, showing mostly only the internal workings with several additions that didn't look like they belonged to the car in any way before whatever they had planned on doing, Mike took a glance at the file's name, and it was just then that the reality of the situation hit him, " KARR AI Prototype 001 Body" Torres was planning on making another AI, the files he had seen earlier, the first file he had opened, the one that contained all those other files, the names said filed had, they all started with "KI" yet the one that was in KARR's folder had "KR"…could those letters be codes for KITT and KARR?...So Torres was planning on making more AIs based off of KITT's AI, yet had had one complete file of an AI that…had been created based off of KARR's AI…

Mike closed the computer again and headed for the door, he opened and went out, very few people remained inside and where already rushing out, making his task of escaping unnoticed easier, he got out through different door than the one he had gone in through originally, ending in the opposite side of the building, he closed the door silently behind him, and turned around to find two men pointing at him with their guns, immediately he got his hands up, from a side came Torres "Not much of a surprise now to be honest, I knew you'll be coming as soon as I heard what happened last night, I see you managed to get a peek at what I had been planning for a while now, I guess you're going to have to come with us now" before he could even answer they started to push him around, off to a side he was able to spot a few people opening the back of a large truck, from it came out an all-black car, it had coverings around several areas od the body, making it hard to see what car it was, once it was out of the truck it sped off and around the building a she was taken away, he started to think of the worst case scenario of both him and KITT getting captured…maybe he should've listened to Sarah…

It had been a few minutes ago that KARR had sent Torres the indication to release their prototype to help him to be able to take KITT down easier, right now the two were facing each other KARR had a few smaller panels missing along with scratches and larger dents in several areas while KITT remained with a few scratches and small dents, only on larger dent remained in his side from once that KARR had hit him there, sending him across the trees they were in, his Nano skin had been damaged earlier, but it was still working, good enough to protect him from smaller hits and a few guns. For a second just then he noticed a slight change in the other AIs engine sound before it went back to how it was before "Give it up KITT, there is nothing you can do now and you know it"

"By the looks of it I seem to be the one with the upper hand here right now, don't you think?"

"on the contrary, I'll even say that you're outnumbered" he finished as the sound of his engine got louder, without any warnings KITT got shoved to the side by another car, another AI, to be clear, it had him pinned down against the wall, KARR in front of him and another wall behind, he tried to pull a quick scan of the new AI but ended up being pushed back by it, very few features where visible from it since it had several covers around some areas that distorted the shape and blocked other features, making a split second decision when he saw KARR approaching he shot one of his few remaining missiles at him, hitting the AI at point blank rage and making him fall back a few meters, he then angles his turboo boost to push him to a side, shoving the newcomer against the wall on the opposite side of the street, effectively breaking free from both of his attackers, by what he was able to see the other AI's defense systems where not fully operable at the moment, the push had given it some scratches on the back bumper when in any other situation it shouldn't have even left a mark, this he could use to his advantage, but first he needed t get rid of KARR, using his grappling hook he got it into one of KARR's arms, he have a quick round around him before pulling on the cable, tangling the robot and forcing him to the ground once more, he shot another missile at him but KARRR moved and even though it had still hit its target it did not land where it had been intended, the older AI stood up with a growl before folding back down into his original shape, it stood in place for a few seconds before driving off, KITT turned around in order to go after him, yet before he could finish the turn he got a hit from behind that ended sending him off into a spin, the new AI had come out from where it had been standing and it had rammed KITT to a side, the Mustang started to go around again but he was stopped by a grappling hook stuck in his rear end, behind him was the new AI was pulling him and preventing him from going after KARR, he decided to try and push through and try and break the cable, but as it was it seemed like that was not going to happen, the two of them had reached a standstill, smoke was pouring down from both cars' wheels in the struggle, KITT started to pull out on it, slightly gaining forwards momentum, he stopped and reversed fast, hitting the opposing car, he charged his EMP and released it when he was right against the other AI, as KITT had hoped, it was an incomplete system, and a simple EMP had been enough, he then headed to where the main building was, if KARR had left then Torres might've as well

The battered Mustang approached the main building, there was no trace that anyone had been inside, he managed to get through one of the larger side doors to access the building, few thongs actually remained, he noticed an open door at the back of the place, he approached the room managing to see what remained inside, being nothing more than a laptop in a desk, he tried accessing the computer but found himself unable to, there was nothing in the building, no one in sight, and he had no way of knowing where had everyone gone and there was no sign of Mike, he supposed that he had been caught, and because the building had the protective shield there had been no way of contacting him, the only solution he could think of was contacting back to the SSC and work from there, the car started to drive out of the building as he called back to the SSC, after the third ring they answered "KITT?, what happened are you two alright?"  
"Torres knew we were coming, KARR has been vastly upgraded, I stayed to fight him off while Mike went inside to try and find any information, they are all gone by now, and I have no way of knowing where they moved off to, they took Mike with them"

"I told him to wait! This is what happens when he doesn't listen and acts on dumb fury…are you okay KITT?"

"Some of my systems are damaged but other than that I'm okay"

"Well, come back then, we have to start looking for him before things get worst"

Just then KITT managed to get a look at the other AI that remained deactivated some distance away "actually, Sarah…I think you might want to come"

"Why is that?" there is another AI, created by Torres and his people probably based off of KARR's programing, we might not only be able to get some more information from it, but also we could try and fix the programing"

"Another AI?!...wait for us there KITT, we'll take one of our trucks there, see you in a few hours"

 **Please** **rate and review, it really helps a lot**


	4. Ch 4 AI

_Ok again I know I failed to upload within a week's time after I said I would...but I got back to school and that took a load of time off of me, another thing that happened is that I changed computers and I kind of lost a few of my files (not only fanfiction stuff but really REALLY important school stuff as well) and I freaked out and took me about three days or so to recover what I had lost thanks to a backup I keep (which I also kind of lost...) but enough of that, for patiently waiting I have brought another chapter_

* * *

 _ **Ch. 4 AI**_

KITT had been waiting patiently for Sarah and the others to arrive, he was taking cover from the sun in the shadow of one of the buildings while focusing on getting fixed the systems that he was able to, he was pulled out of his concentration by the sound of an approaching car, moving out to be more in the open he found that the team had arrived, the truck stopped next to him and the three got down from it, Sarah was the first to get to KITT "KIT, I thought you said you where okay"

"I am Sarah"

"You are not, we are getting you fixed up as soon as we get there, now, where is the other AI you told us about?

"Around the corner of the building to your right"

"What car is it?"

"I really don't know, it had some coverings that distort the original shape and other details that I could use to identify it are not visible"

Sarah turned to look at the other two before they all walked towards where KITT had pointed them to, and there was in fact around the corner a car that was resting unmoving against the wall, the three then approach "So this is the AI KITT told us about?" Zoe said, looking at Sarah

"I suppose, I think he used an EMP to knock it out, he did say that he believed that it was incomplete, a simple EMP apparently was enough to just shut it out…but I doubt this will last much more, considering that it has been a few hours since that happened, Billy bring the trailer back here so we can get it up and start moving" the tech headed off to where they had parked the trailer "what do you think they were planning on doing?" Zoe asked, looking at the car

"I honestly don't know…but it bothers me that they just left it here, risking that we could get to it, was it even important to them...KITT said that he believes that is was made off of KARR's base program, maybe it was some sort of prototype and they used it to be able to get away without KITT following…I really don't know" she casted a glance at the large building behind them "I'm going to go and see if there is anything they left that could be of use to us, you and Billy get the car on the trailer and I'll meet you guys back at the entrance"

Sarah walked back towards the building, walking past KITT in the process "where are you going Sarah?"

"I'm going to see if there is anything inside that can help us find something about all this"

"There is a room to the far end of the building, I was unable to access it but you might be able to do it manually, there might be something of importance in it"

"I'll go check it out, thanks KITT" Sarah walked past the Mustang and into the building, by what she was able to see only few things remained that gave any signs of anyone ever being here, just as KITT had said at the back of the building there was an open door, and inside remained just a desk and a laptop, she approached the desk and opened it, some files where already open and she started to read through them.

It had taken them a little while to get the new car to the trailer, but after a little they managed to get it done, the two were about to get back on the trailer when Sarah came back out "Did you get anything Sarah?"

"Billy, you have no idea what I just found, I'll go over the details on our way back, but this guy back here is going to help us get to Torres and the others, let's go now, we need to get KITT fixed up and find Mike"

The three got back on the truck and started to make their way back to their base, driving slower this time keeping in mind their charge as well as KITT's current state. After the few hours of the ride back where done they focused on getting KITT fixed up leaving the other car on the hangar inside the trailer, Zoe started to work on him while Sarah explained to both what he had discovered from the laptop back there, she realized now that they had actually just used this new AI as a last resort to give KARR a chance at escaping, it was never intended to be a full thing, it was just a prototype made based off of the older AI's programming, something had gone wrong with it apparently and they decided to use KITT's AI instead, so risking this model and leaving it really meant nothing to them…they had probably forgotten that it probably had important information about whatever they were planning to do, if they even did realized that then it was already too late for them. Zoe then came out from under KITT "So, they plan on making a large group of AIs based off of KITT's programing? What for?"

"I don't know yet, it seems off to me, but…Torres always wanted KITT and KARR to be created for military purposes, that's my only guess, he wants them to sell them to the military"

"But if he cloned KITT's programing wouldn't the prime directive clash with war and all that?"

"Yes, but once the program is openly laid in a blank screen it can be easily changed" the three stood quiet before Zoe went back to work on KITT and Billy turned back to his computer. After a few more minutes Zoe finished off with KITT and he reactivated his Nano skin, fixing himself as a wave rippled around him, fixing every imperfection "Okay, KITT's done, what do you want to do now Sarah?"

"We bring the other AI in, use the gimbal to restrain it and we start working to see what we can get and rescue"

"Rescue?" Billy asked "Yeah, Maybe we can fix it and keep it with us, you never know when some extra help will be needed"

"Don't you think that can be a little bit risky?"

"Not if we clean the AI of the bits of KARR that can be destructive and replace them with some of KITT's programs"

"And do you think that will work properly?"

"If done correctly then we should have no problem with it"

"Then I guess we should start working on it, the sooner we can fix its programing the sooner we can get some information as to what is happening and get some more clues as to where Mike might be"

They had knocked him out earlier, so there was no way he could tell how much time had passed since he had been captured to right now, they had taken him inside another building and he remained inside a room, he was unable to see anything about the place he was in, not on the inside, not on the outside. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the door to the room he was in opening, two men came in and told him to follow, with no other choice he obeyed, they walked him through a few hallways until they walked out of a door that leaded to a slightly more open area that had a bigger concentration of computer stations and other devices that he could not identify, this was probably their main base of operations, he noticed out one of the windows in the wall next to them that it was indeed nighttime, there was not a single light that he was able to see, that only remained for a few seconds, since he could now see an approaching light that gave way to the dark shape of KARR, driving around the outside of the buildings, he looked fine, at least as much as he could tell, and KITT was nowhere near…where was he? KITT had been fighting KARR last time he had seen him, yet here he was and there was no sign of his partner…all kinds of scenarios started to play over in his head, trying to guess what had happened, he stayed like that for the following few minutes until they reached another room, they opened the door for him and he sat down in a desk that possessed a few folders and a desktop computer, nothing more, after a minute the door behind him opened and a man he did not know walked in and sat down at the computer "So, you are Michael Knight I suppose, it's very good to have you here, you will be of tremendous help to our little project"

"Who said I was going to be of any help to you at all?"

"Oh but you have no choice here, either you help us or you are of no use to us, I'm sure you can guess what that means around here. So now, you are the driver of the Knight industries three thousand, we were trying to copy his programing a little while ago but we were unable to, so we only managed to get a few bits and pieces of said code, being said AI's driver you should know all of the commands and codes, I need those codes, and you are going to give them to me"

"You have KARR with you here, why don't you just replicate his code instead, wouldn't it be easier?"

"it would, if he would even allow us to get close again, we already tried copying his programing, we installed in in another prototype AI that we found very hard to work with, KARR's AI is useless for our purposes, right now he is only here for protection purposes as well ad keeping him off our backs later, he agreed to cooperate as long as we gave him access to the three thousand as soon as we were done, but because that plan doesn't seem too likely at the moment we are just going to have to use you to complete the program as much as we can and then work from there, we'll find a way of dealing with KARR later"

"And where is this supposed prototype AI you spoke of now, if there even is one?"

"probably already deactivated, we send it to fight off your car back then to allow KARR to have a upper hand at fighting him off, it worked, but we know nothing of the other one, not like it matters, it was doomed to fail anyways just for the simple fact that we used an AI that was already flawed as a base in the first place"

"So you just left it?"

"yes, now, we've been speaking too much here and nothing of importance to the project, now, you are going to give me those codes, and you are going to do so right now"

They had managed to push the new AI inside and onto the gimbal, they managed to access its basic functions and blocked it from being able to turn on the engine with some help from KITT, it had been quite easy to access it, again, because this was an AI in early development and lacked many functions, the next thing they set themselves to do was removing the covers that where around to not only gain access to the inside and the engine compartment, but to be able to tell what car this was, Sarah and Zoe started on the sides while Billy worked on the back, the covers had been damaged with the small fight it had had with KITT earlier, who now stood in the space next to the gimbal, but the body underneath seemed to be in relatively good condition, it took a few minutes for Billy to be able to remove some of the rear covers, but when he managed to take some of them out he immediately turned to Sarah and Zoe "you girls…I think I know what car this is now…" the two approached as Billy finished removing one of the covers, revealing certain body lines that gave away the car they were facing, along with a characteristic three segment taillight "Sarah was the one that turned to look at KITT first "KITT…it's just like you" the three continued to hurry up in removing the rest of the hard covers, they continued to do so in a hurried manner until they were able to unveil a Mustang not unlike KITT, the once white paint was in poor conditions and peeling off in one or two small places, the deep blue double stripes' paint was faded in some places, once it was all off they started working on accessing it's programing, for that to be easier they needed to access it through the engine compartment, Sarah was the first to approach, she opened the hood, and with it came the low sound of the computer booting back up, the AI was now active once more "Sarah, it's back online"

"Yeah, got that, Billy, Zoe, do you think you can access through the computers while I work my way up here?" the two nodded and went to their computers and started to work their way into the computer, it started to oppose resistance as soon as it felt it's systems being invaded, Billy and Zoe where starting to get some trouble as well as Sarah when it closed its hood once more, it would look like it still had control over some basic functions and that it was equipped with a decent internal defense system that they were having some trouble getting past "KITT, do you think you can help us out here?, we need it to stop fighting for a little and listen to us, maybe we can reason with it into letting us help it"

KITT flashed his headlights in understanding and focused on accessing the AI himself, he easily broke through some of the blocks until he reached an area he could communicate with it, he sent a slight noninvasive pulse to gain it's attention, it worked and for a second it stopped fighting the others and focused on him, acting more out of curiosity than anything it approached the new entity, he was the first AI other than KARR that it had interacted with since its activation, it circled around him, it would look like this AI was new to internal interaction, coming from working with KARR it didn't surprise him much, he approached a little more to it but only gained a more aggressive response as it started to throw blocks in his and in the others' direction, again KITT approached to where he was before, sending calm waves of energy towards it, it relaxed once more and started to circle him again, KITT kept emitting the calm waves in order to keep its attention fully focused on him, if he managed to keep it focused on him the others would probably have access to the core shortly and they would be able to shut it down, getting free reign in modifying the systems and fixing the AI, a minute later KITT got the all clear for Sarah, so he starts to subtly retreat into himself being careful of keeping the other AI focused on him, he managed to do so before suddenly disappearing back into himself, leaving the other AI alone right as the shutdown kicked in.

"Okay, we have it secured, start working on it right away, I'll be working with KITT on getting any information we find useful" the two nodded as Sarah got inside the Mustang and both started to skim through the files on the AI, it took them a while to get to the information they needed but in the end they finally got it, the location of their main base of operations as well as a few other things related to what Torres' plan really involved, a few facts they knew and some other they didn't, but it was all useful nevertheless, Sarah got out from the car and walked towards the others "how are you guys doing with the programming?"

"We're still working on it, there's a lot to fix here and even more to code in if we want this to work properly"

Sarah got back on one of the computers and started to work on the programing, it had ended taking them all a few more hours, working halfway through the night, because they had already a fully completer AI such as KITT the coding for this new one went relatively smooth, only changing slight parts of each program in order to adapt it to the AI's unique base coding, they managed to find and eliminate one of the core programs, this one being the program that established self-preservation as the primary directive, it took them almost another full hour to replace said program with the one that ruled over KITT as well, the preservation of human life, however, everything they were doing where mere words, the only way they had of being sure if their new codes and programs would work properly was watching them work in the field, but at the time they were running out of time to do so, as soon as it was ready KITT was going to leave to go out for Mike with Sarah while Billy and Zoe worked to see if the codes they had implemented in the new AI had worked as they intended it to.

It had been a long night for everyone, but in the end they had managed to fix the codes that needed fixing and installed those that were missing, speaking of internal workings, it was ready, they needed to boot up the computer back up and wait for it to analyze and accept the new codes, all in all the AI would feel like if it where new, but it would keep whatever memories it had from before getting here, because of all the new information the reboot was going to take a while, time they didn't had at the moment "okay, it looks like all the programs are complete and coded, Zoe, start the reboot on the computer, hopefully it will be over by sunrise and we can leave to go get Mike Back" the three went to get some sleep while KITT stayed up and supervised the computer, making sure that there was no issue with the new mass information download, so far it would look like it was going down smoothly, there had been no spikes in the flow of the download and it was all getting accepted by the core, he kept a close eye on the flow of data until a few hours later it was finally complete. KITT thought over waking the others up but opted to let them sleep so that they could be ready for tomorrow while he handled this on his own, he detected the new AI making the final checkups on the new systems, there was still things to install in the physical sense, but they could manage to do it later on, as soon as the last checkups where done he was able to feel the AI prodding around itself, despite all the systems that had been installed there was still many systems missing, at the moment it was still unable to actually see its surroundings due to the lack of a scanner. Seeing that it was now relatively calm KITT decided to start contact with it, accessing it's systems he found it going around the new programs that had been installed, curious as to what each one of them was, again KITT sent out a light pulse that worked perfectly to call its attention, it came once more to go around the other AI, its curiosity was stronger than it had been before, probably now that it realized that all the new upgrades had been thanks to this new entity, it stopped after a minute in front of it "Who are you?" it spoke, KITT taken back for a second realizing that this was in fact a female AI they were dealing with "I am the Knight industries three thousand, KITT for short, we took you in after KARR and the rest of his team abandoned you to stop me from following them. I convinced my team of taking you and completing your programming seeing that it was barely complete, that is why you have so many new systems"

"I do remember, and I thank you for what you have been doing"

"Many of your systems are still incomplete, and will be installed throughout the following days, including a scanner that will allow you to see things properly instead of going off of grids and sensors, but first we need you help"

"What is it that you require?"

"Because you worked with them since activation you might have information that we can use to stop them and get back my driver, who was taken by Torres"

"You have a driver?...I'll give you the information you require, I don't have much, but I believe that if it is their current location you are looking for then I can do it"

"…why would you give it out so easily?"

"Because ever since I was activated a few months back you were the first one to actually show any type of interaction that wasn't related to orders, what you have done for me tells me that I can trust you, and I want to help"

"Thank you, we really appreciate it, there are still a few hours before sunrise, it will be better for you to have some rest, the mass download surely took a toll in your systems"

"I really appreciate it" after that KITT retreated back into himself as the new AI started its recharge cycle, the black Mustang was about to start the recharge cycle of his own until he forgot to ask her if she had a designation, but it seemed that she had already started her recharge cycle, he decided to wait until morning to ask her.

Sunrise finally came, Sarah was the first one to get up, her first interest went towards the AI "KITT, did it finished the data download yet?"

"She did, a few hours ago, I told her to get some rest afterwards until morning"

"She? You spoke to it?"

"I waited until she was done with the download before speaking to het to explain what had happened, she placed her trust in un and is willing to share the information she had to help us get to Mike"

"KITT, that's amazing, do you think you can tell her to send us the data?"

"She is still in her recharge mode, but I suppose that I can ask" KITT accessed his communications and opened a link to her, he hoped that the activation of said link will bring her out of recharge, it did "Yes, KITT?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to ask you if you would send me the information that you have about KARR and his team"

"Of course" a few seconds went by before KITT received the data he had requested

"Thank you, I will inform you if anything else happens, again, thank you for your cooperation"

After receiving the files KITT immediately showed them on the screen so that Sarah could look for the information they needed, she was surprised to find the same files that where on the computer that she had seen back at the complex, along with some other information that she hadn't seen before, including the location of their main base of operation, the place where she was sure everyone had gone to when they left the place Mike and KITT went to, the black mustang was ready, so was she, there was no other way, they were going to go out and get Mike back

An hour later and Billy and Zoe where at their stations while Sarah was on the highway with KITT on her way to the location they had obtained, the new AI remained where in her place in KITT's gimbal, keeping an ear out for what was happening around her "Okay guys, KITT had the route plotted, I need to know if we have an eye in the sky yet"

"We are still working on it, our satellites are not close enough to break through the shield around the complex, and we are borrowing some other government satellites for it, we are almost there, in a few minutes we'll be able to have an image, do you two have a plan?" Billy finished

"Just tell us as soon as you have that ready, we need a heads us as to what is waiting for us, once you get the image try and hack into any cameras inside, KITT will help you with that part so that we can find exactly where Mike, KARR and Torres are, we can't go in blind, we already know how that went last time" the two techs on the screen nodded before the link ended, leaving Sarah and the AI on their own again "Sarah, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course KITT"

"What are you planning to do with 'her'?"

"Well…I don't know for sure, we can't just send her somewhere, and deactivation is not an option, not know anyway…we will likely fit her up with all the systems you have and fix her pains, installing the Nano coat as well, maybe she could be of help to us, but leave that for later, we need to focus on getting Mike and stopping Torres. Anything from Billy and Zoe?

"They just managed to break through the shield, I am starting to work on the cameras inside, but I will take a while"

"Why?, heavy encryption?"

"No, actually the encryption on it is pretty basic, but I am afraid that KARR will detect me hacking into it, for that I have to take time filtering a cover program that will remain with a low chance of being detected."

"Do what you need to do KITT, we are getting Mike back and stop KARR"

Mike had been confined to this room for the last hours, the crazy scientist had his ways, but he was stronger than he thought and kept his lips shut, he'll be damned before telling them anything about KITT's systems, he was just waiting now, Torres would probably have word that he didn't cooperate, and he was going to take matters into his own hands, that was never good, he just hoped that KITT was alright, he could probably hang on a few more days here, before things got messy, judging by past experience the AI was probably already working on getting a location, he had already thought of any way that he could make that job easier for him, but there was nothing he could really do in his current state, the only thing he could do was wait, and hope that he was right, and that the Mustang was actually fine.

It had taken them a while to get to the complex, by now, KITT had managed to create a detailed map of the area and had access to the cameras, giving him live feedback to the whereabouts of everyone in the place, including Mike, Torres and KARR, a few small upgrades that KITT had received back in the SSC now allowed him to remain hidden from his brother, but he was still unable to properly register his signal, but he had the cameras to go through and have a clear location on him, they had a plan now, Sarah was going to get Mike while KITT created a big enough distraction to attract all the guards and if possible avoid KARR until the very end. Sarah climbed out and made a run for one of the building's backdoors, the one closer to where Mike was, as soon as she was inside KITT started to go around the building, positioning himself in the area that was as far away from the area Mike was in as possible, he waited until the rogue AI was on the far side of the complex so that he could have some time to get away and to to his meeting point with Sarah, even though he wanted to finish KARR off as soon as possible right now was not the time, getting Mike back was the reason he was here, and if he could avoid his twin for the time being then it was for the best, he aimed two of his missiles to the area where there where a few crates of ammo for the K.R. missiles, his smaller missile was enough to set the rest of them on fire in a loud explosion that was sure to attract some attention, he turned around quickly and sped off to take cover behind a building a few blocks back, in seconds a few guards arrived and started to walk around the area, KARR had arrived as well and was driving around the area, a minute later and even more guards had arrived, it was then that he decided to make his move and go to the meetup point, the cameras showed that they are where Mike was was guard free, and Sarah was quickly approaching. The AI turned his attention back to the distraction, they were starting to move forwards on the search around the perimeter of the explosion, they had to hurry and get out before they were noticed, he informed Sarah of their situation and she quickened her pace, it took her a little to actually be able to get to where Mike was being kept and a few more minutes to hack into the lock in the door with some help from KITT, as soon as the door was open the Mustang turned his attention to the search, and of course that KARR had detected the door had been opened and everyone was running back, he hurried them to go faster as KARR approached quickly, the two ran out of the building and into KITT right as the rogue AI skidded around the corner as soon as his door closed and secured his two passengers he threw himself into a tight spin that narrowly voided KARR's incoming blow "KITT, I'm so glad to see you"

"as am I Michael, I would like to keep talking, but right now we have important matters to attend to"

"he's right, KITT, contact the SSC tell them about our current predicament, see what they can help us with" the AI complied as KARR turned around to face him "dear dear brother, you were smart in your moves but not enough"

"cut the chase KARR, let's go straight to the point. What is it that you and Torres are planning?"

"wouldn't you like to know…well, Torres has some contacts, he has been working on getting new AIs to sell to the highest bidder, I agreed to help him with the condition that I would get access to you after he was done, now I see that even with such a large team as he has, he is still not capable of getting anything done properly…so instead I've opted to take things into my own matters, and forget the deal" as he finished there as the tone of his engine changed to a higher pitched note, KITT answered with a growl of his own as the two battled once again.

Torres was still in the middle of the explosion, as a few others remained to try and find the source, he knew, though, that the one and only behind this had been no one other than the three thousand, coming back for his rider, and now KARR had gone for him in the other side of the building, he needed to go and check that he didn't damage KITT too much, he still needed to get the rest of the programs. Signaling his men to follow with their guns ready, two of them where carrying the missiles while the other five used the high powered guns, this was the time, it had to be, they had to get him now, their time was running out and they needed to get the program finished and start testing out the AI on the new bodies before sending them out, this had to be the time, KARR better do his work and keep his part of the deal.

By the time they got to the side where KITT and KARR where fighting they came face to face with the moment where KARR swiped KITT off of the road and into a side of the building, leaving a dent on his side, several large scratches, a little smoke was already flying off of the sides of his hood while KARR was already on his robot form smoking and a few areas where occasionally shooting sparks, seeing KITT's state he decided to call out on the older AI "KARR, stand down, we'll take it on from here"

"you've failed to do such thing this far, I have decided to take matters into my own hands now, if you know what's better for you, you'll stay back" he finished growling his engine at him as he turned back around to KITT and charged, the Mustang dodged the hit and used his grappling hook into one of his arms and started pulling, but KARR didn't give in, he didn't fall down, he was pulling back on the cable and the two AIs had reached a standstill, KITT angled his turbo boost then to pull on the cable again, but it only managed to drag KARR a few meters, he was still on his feet and pulling back, then, he lost his balance when he started to get hit by high power bullets, a few meters away where Torres' shooting their guns at him, now the battle had turned into an all out war, Torres now knew that KARR was no longer on his side, and he knew that he was the bigger threat here, so taking him out while he could became a priority, but KARR had a different plan in mind, he brought his clawed hand down on the grappling hook's cable, snapping it instantly, turning to the lineup of people to his left and swiping his hand across knocking most of them into the building, killing them on impact, the three remaining took cover as KARR turned around to see KITT charging in, his dual hood guns spinning and sending a storm his way, he rose his hand to break the impact that was sure to come, the sound of another missile launching broke his attention as the Mustang was thrown off of its course by the impact of the missile, KARR swiped his hand in the source knocking the two remaining guards as well as Torres, now he needed to take care of KITT, who was currently bringing himself back on all fours after landing on his side, the missile had left a large scorch-mark as well as several cracks on his window, it was perfect, that hit might've probably helped him in his task, this had to be the moment when he finally got his revenge back on his brother, he approached and placed a hand on top of his roof, keeping him pinned where he was.

Of all the things that could've happened then and there the impact of a missile was not amongst them, he had experienced said missiles in the past, it had been only once but he remembered it perfectly, the difference was that he had managed to prepare before the impact that time and his Nano-skin was working to its full potential, now, he had been lucky that he had managed to get his shields slightly above 15% and that had been barely enough to prevent the missile from doing any critical damage to his systems, sadly, it hadn't been enough to prevent it from making any physical damage, he landed on his side against a building, one of his windows was filled with cracks that added to the ones in his windshield "KITT what's your status?" Sarah asked in near panic

"Several systems are off line and most are badly damaged, I am not going to be able to sustain another hit like that"

"get yourself back down, we need to try and run from KARR, we can't deal with this now" KITT complied using one last small boost to get back on his four wheels, but he noticed then that his rear suspension had collapsed, he was not going to be able to get away at any speed fast enough to outrun KARR, he considered his options and only took a split second to decide what to do, seeing as KARR approached he flung open one of his doors and threw Mike and Sarah out "run, find a way to get back to the SSC without getting noticed by KARR, he'll want to get to you two as well"

"No" Mike immediately said "No I am not leaving you KITT!"

"I wasn't asking" he closed his door as KARR started to get closer "Go now, take this time to hide from him"

"I said no!" Mike said as he pulled on the car's door to try and open it, Sarah took a hold of his arm then "Mike, listen to him, please…" the ex-army ranger turned to look from Sarah back to the AI, call it whatever you want, but he could feel the AI pleading him to go, and with a last internal scream he let go of the door and ran off with Sarah, a few seconds later and KARR was on top of him, he pressed one of his hands hard on top of his roof, pinning him to the ground, both of them where badly damaged, but KARR had the size and brute force on his side, if he wanted he could crush the car underneath him, easily breaking through what little was left of the damaged shield, the robot seemed to be contemplating something for a few seconds before his hand increased the strength he was applying on the car, increasing it exponentially, he couldn't believe that it had finally come to this, after all this time, a ghost that should've been buried around a year ago, yet he was back, he could feel his shields giving out on the force, they were the only thing keeping him from getting crushed, even though he was focusing his available power to keep his shields from breaking he knew he was just buying himself at most a few seconds, but those few seconds where worth enough. He had given up by now, just waiting for the end, if it hadn't been for the cacophony of warnings alarms and KARR's engine KITT would've been able to hear the sound of another missile being fired, the projectile impacted right in its target, sending the AI to the ground, another missile was launched and it knocked him back down as he was getting back up, leaving him on the ground for good, his shields where badly damaged as well, the first missile had surely broke through, the second one went right through the skeleton and into the cabin, somewhere, wherever it had hit, it had been enough to render him immobile, a few meters away stood Mike and Sarah, the first holding a missile launcher over his shoulder and looking at the smoking form of what once was KARR's shell, the ranger dropped the empty weapon to the ground and ran towards KITT, the Mustang was smoking and some paint had been scraped off around where KARR had his hand, but seemed that otherwise there hadn't been much damage done by the crushing force "KITT!"

"I thought I had told you two to run and hide"

"no need for that now, it's over"

"did you at least thought of what would've happened had those two missiles not been enough to bring him down?"

"yeah, I did, but it was worth a shot, defeating him and saving you than just give up and let him, well…in my mind it was worth a shot, we got each other's backs, remember?"

"…I do. Thank you Michael" Sarah remained standing behind the two, looking over the car and the damage around them "Mike, do you think you can go call back the SSC, tell them what happened and see if they can send a team here to clean up this mess, this time we'll make sure that everything is properly disposed of" the man nodded before taking the phone that she was offering him and walking off, again Sarah looked over the car, as soon as Mike was out of range she saw the Mustang sunk even lower in his tires with a hiss of air "KITT!" she said running the short distance between them up until she was leaning against him "I'm sorry Sarah, my shock absorbers broke with KARR's pressure, I only managed to keep them up thus far"

"you should've dropped it as soon as the weight was off of you…don't worry KITT, we'll get you back up and running in no time, we have everything that we need back at base, do you think you can make it back on your own?"

"that shouldn't be much of a problem, but I do not believe that I will be able to travel at the same rate of speed that we were driving at on our way here"

"don't worry, we can deal with that" she turned around just then to see Mike walking back towards them "and what about you? What happened while you were here"

"they tried getting the information they were missing from KITT's extraction, the needed codes"

"and I suppose you didn't tell them anything did you?"

"you know me too well. Of course I didn't. you two arrived in the nick of time. We need to go now, Billy and Zoe already got people to come and clean this up, they will give us any information they find, but we don't want them asking questions"

"yeah, I agree. Let's give KITT some help to start moving, we can climb up as soon as he gets moving"

"yeah…seems like a good idea" that been said the two moved behind KITT, the Mustang brought himself to turn his engine back on. Sarah and Mike both pushed KITT to get him to start moving and get some momentum that he could keep to build up his speed a little more, it took them under a minute to get the car to move and a few more seconds to get it to a speed that they could still climb onto and keep the car moving, they ran up to get inside afterwards and kept a close eye on all of KITT's stats while they drove on their way back, the fight seemed to finally be over, but little did they know that it had all just began…

* * *

 _I have given up on due dates for myself, I've got enough due dates as it is already with school (anyone out there in IB or that has been in IB will know what I'm talking about, working on all the papers and extended essay) but don't worry I will still be uploading relatively regularly, but I will try to keep it weekly-ish_


	5. Ch 5 Back on Track

**I will be updating regularly, just not with exact time periods**

 _Ch. 5 Back on Track_

While they were still on their way to the SSC they got the call from Zoe that the team they had called out had arrived and where starting to gather everything they could, when they asked who they were Zoe simply answered that there were some old friends of hers, that seemed to be enough for the three, after that the ride went by on relative silence, Mike took some time to sleep while Sarah refused to do so, telling KITT that she wanted to keep a close eye on his systems, despite the Mustang's reassurance she stood her ground.

When they got closer to the SSC she contacted the two techs inside to tell them to get everything ready to get started on KITT's repairs, and of course that by the time they entered the complex the white Mustang was parked on one side leaving the gimbal empty once again, being surrounded by several tools and devices specifically made for the sole purpose of being used on the AI's unique systems. To the two techs the black car came in as a surprise, just by the sheer look of it they knew that this was going to be yet another all-nighter, two major dents in one side and in his back, larger scrapes in his hood and sides along with several bullet holes and scorch marks scattered about, and that was just the visual, god only knew how bad the internal systems had been damaged. Mike and Sarah climbed out, the four spoke for a few minutes of what had happened, exchanging what knowledge they had acquired as well as discussing any possibilities as to the buyer that KARR had said Torres was working with, in the end they decided to leave whatever knowledge they had discovered to analyze later and focus on KITT's repairs and maybe start working on finishing the white Mustang who's name they had still to learn "ok KITT" Zoe said as she approached the car, tools in hand "think you can open your hood so that I can start the repair?"

"of course" a loud click filled the room as the lock was released, Zoe pushed open the hood and started to work on the few sparking cables that she could see in the engine compartment, to her luck it seemed that at least in the important components that remained in the engine bay there were relatively intact, Billy had decided to climb down to start working in the car's underside, having access to several important systems, what he knew had to be fixed as soon as possible was the collapsed suspension, the AI had managed to keep it in relative working order in his was here, but now that he was safe he dropped it back down, it was the first thing he needed to focus on, taking a few spare parts as well as a welder, this was work that was going to take time no doubt about that, but it could be done, they had the best tools and people they could get.

The Mustang set down in his place and shut down several systems that needed to be turned off for the repairs, he knew that this one was going to take a while, at least until he was able to turn back on his Nano-skin to fix all the visual imperfections yet his skin could only go so far, the larger dents would have to be worked on manually before he could fix them completely, the small areas where his paint had been scraped off would have to be smoothed out in order for the repair to happen correctly, so for the time being he decided to overlook whatever the two techs were working on, out of pure boredom, he wished he could simply slip into his recharge mode and let everything go it's way, but his friends might need some assistance at some point, and it didn't seem fair to him to just recharge while they worked on him, so he opted to stay with them instead. After a few minutes a light pulse reminded him of the AI that he had momentarily forgotten was standing a few meters next to him, she still didn't look all that good, despite her systems being fully operably her visual appeal was not the strongest, for whatever reason that had happened he was not one to ask, not yet anyways, he noticed that at the moment she was just curious as to what was happening, the pulse he had felt was her way of silently asking if he was okay, asking about what he had gone to do, feeling the actual concern emanating from the link he had no problem in explaining all that had happened, and so he did, telling her when they were done that he would be sure go get her some access to their data, to his surprise Zoe had already been speaking to her and she had access to various areas of their mainframe, she had been browsing in it and getting as much information as possible ever since they had left. At the moment he was not sure if it was because he really had nothing to do other than wait, or that it was actually quite entertaining speaking to her, there was just something he found interest in by seeing how with everything he explained and every file she switched through her curiosity grew, she wanted to know everything, again, he supposed that now, after seeing the way she had been acted with them that she had been very limited to basics for the time she was with them, stuck to the basic function of following orders, to any common AI following order was mostly what they had probably been developed for, fulfilling their directives completely with said task alone, but when you move that scale to AIs as advanced as the two of them where following orders was a simple task, something that would not fulfill the capabilities of such a powerful computer, that was why now that she finally had proper access to information as well as new systems that she had to go through kept her busy and interested, it hadn't been until now that she was extending to deeper reaches of her own being, and it amused KITT to see it all happen, maybe it was just the fact that this had been the only other AI that he had the chance to properly interact with, the only other AI he knew was KARR, and he had been all but friendly ever since the beginning, it turned out to be something quite unique, he knew for a fact that as soon as they were done with his repairs the three of them were going to start working on her, getting all the parts that needed to be installed in order to get most new systems in proper working order as well as getting her a fresh paintjob with the Nano-skin infusion, if she was to eventually go out with him in any mission she was going to need all the protection she could and training to get used to all the systems and their working would, and of course that he was going to be the one to look over the whole thing, they already had more in common that his own driver…driver, she was going to be needing a driver…he made sure to remember to ask that again sometime soon to either Mike or Sarah, although Mike might still no know what our plans are for the simple fact that he had been out ever since she had arrived, of course that he had immediately questioned Sarah and the others about her, after they explained to him what had actually happened he seemed to be at bit less distrustful of her, but he knew for a fact that his driver was still unsure of the whole situation while he knew for a fact that it was going to be beneficial for them all in the long run, but enough of that, for now she has busy reading through the files and the foundation's history, and she would probably stay doing so for a while, the idea behind this was that by the time she was ready to go out in the field she had as much knowledge as possible, one would think that for a computer it could just be done by downloading the files, which was, in a sense, true, but to truly analyze properly the information given to it it was better to go through it manually, and even though an AI such as themselves can go through an extensive file in seconds there was much to read and research and she was sure going to take her time and absorb as much information as possible, then again, who was there to blame her for it?

The hours went by as the night wore on, the three techs where working on the Mustang while Mike sat on the desk in front of him filling out a report on the information that he had managed to gather for the time that he had been away. The chamber was now filled with scattered parts and tools accumulated throughout the night, the progress had been fast, but there was still much to do, hopefully they were going to be done within the next hour or so, the three of them where working on getting his Nano-skin back up, once they were done with it they would be done and they could finally get some rest, throughout the night KITT had told them to get some sleep and come back in the morning if they preferred but the three had refused immediately. The last hour went by relatively fast and KITT was finally completely fixed, the three techs headed off for a well-deserved rest, Mike followed soon after, staying a bit longer to talk to KITT before leaving as well, the AI did not find it surprising that they all had managed to fall asleep as soon as they did, a lot of work had been done throughout the night, sunrise wasn't too far off, he supposed that they would most probably sleep through morning and maybe part of the evening, all in all he was sure that the upgrades in their new friend would have to wait until the next day, today was going to be purely devoted to resting, himself included, after all, a day of peace and quiet couldn't hurt anyone right? Before starting recharging himself he turned to look at the white car besides him, she was still doing some research, he spoke to her about unimportant matters for a little, telling her that she should also get some rest because the following days where going to be devoted solely to getting her up and running to 100% she started to asked questions about said matter, but KITT only answered in the end by telling her that there was nothing to worry about.

"you say that most of the new systems that where implemented on me are still incomplete?"

"you have the software, but the hardware for most has yet to be installed, until then they would not work the way they are supposed to. There is nothing that you need to worry about"

with that KITT decided to start his recharge mode, after all that had been happening the past days he was also exhausted, before doing so he made sure to ask one more thing to her "so, it's been four days, you know us, and me, but I never asked you for your name, do you have a designation?"

"I do, and this is also one of the reasons I decided to trust you and the others so quickly. I am the Knight Industries Four Thousand, KIFT, if you may" the revelation took the Mustang by surprise for a second, but he realized that it would only seem logical for Torres to keep the Knight Industries name, after all, if he had the intentions of treating with bigger organizations or buyers he had to have a name behind him, and using Knight Industries would only be logical, it surprised him nevertheless, after a short good night KITT went to start his recharge mode, following the others' example.

The SSC stayed in relative peace and quiet for the following morning, it wasn't until after midday that the usual activity of the base started, Sarah was the first one to get up, she walked by the main chamber, greeting both AIs, KIFT still missed the hardware that allowed her to speak properly, so she just greeted her back with a flash of her headlights, the tech kept walking through the room, going through a hallway at the other end that leaded to the kitchen, the smell of coffee started to filter through the room and a little while later Sarah came out carrying a cup of coffee and some scrambled eggs, she walked back into the main chamber and sat down at the large desk, with her breakfast, browsing her phone. With the smell of food in the air the other three didn't take long to wake up and get something to eat as well, nothing much really happened that day, it remained calm for the most part as the four people sat around the kitt-cave talking casually, it wasn't until night arrived that they brought up the trending topic that was KIFT

"So Sarah, what exactly are you planning on doing with her?" Mike said looking the the white Mustang's general direction

"we're going to be working on her tomorrow, we already installed all the software that she was missing, but we have yet to install the hardware, that's what we are going to be focusing on for the next few days as well as testing"

"Yeah, I knew that, what I meant was what are you planning to do with her later on, after that?"

"we could use her help every once in a while, either with research in here so that KITT can fully focus in the mission at hand or even go out in the field if the situation calls for it"

"you do remember that even though you already 'fixed her' she was still created off of KARR's AI right?"

"I do, but that does not matter now, there is no trace of his programming in her, it's all been replaced by the same codes and programs that rule over KITT. I know you don't like it, I know you are still thinking of the worst case scenarios, and I don't blame you…but you have to understand that this" Sarah motioned to KIFT "is not that. KIFT will become part of the team, we made the decision of taking her in, deactivation is not an option, we all saw what that did to KARR"

"KIFT? Is that what they called her? Did Torres decided to steal the name as well now?"

"it stands for Knight Industries Four Thousand, and yes, KITT reasoned that he needed to have a god name behind him before going with whoever was going to be his client, Knight Industries was just logical, think about it, he had the background he needed by using the name in case anyone asked, it would've been the perfect plan. Don't take it upon her, we all know she's just another loose end that they left behind" after that Mike got up from the ouch he was sitting in and started to walk back to his pod, Billy, who had stopped playing a game in the computer resumed the activity while Zoe and Sarah exchanged looks between them and the AIs

the group retired for the night shortly after that, leaving the main chamber in near complete dark with the exception of the dim lights at the top of the catwalk, just bright enough to reflect the outline of the near invisible black Mustang, the only other light came from the double red scanner bar that tracked calmly back and forth on top of the Mustang's grille, he couldn't help but notice that the other AI's demeanor was less active than usual, taking a while to decide whether to speak to her of not he finally sent out a message

"KIFT, Are you okay?"

"I was just thinking…that's all"

"Don't take what Mike said seriously, he has a deep remorse for both Torres and KARR, he's just letting that part of him show, he doesn't really mean it. He'll warm up to you in time, besides, the others really like you and do believe what Sarah said, I do as well"

"I thank you, all of you, for trusting and helping me"

"there is nothing to thank, we do what is right, this just happened to be one of those special cases" the two said their good nights before calling the night, both knew that tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

The following morning everyone got up early, their routine remained for the most part unchanged, after getting breakfast the three techs went to get the tools they were going to need, while they did that KITT got off of his gimbal to allow KIFT to get up in it to allow the three easier access to several areas with the rotation mechanic, a few minutes after the two AIs had switched places Billy, Sarah and Zoe entered the room once more carrying several carts with various pats and tools that they were going to need with their work, KIFT shut down her systems and allowed them to begin their work, they started with the components that needed to be installed in the engine compartment, the smaller parts that allowed for minor systems, they moved on to the undercarriage where they switched several parts with others that were more specialized to sustain the stress that an AI could go through, most normal car parts would break under the strength of situations that they could go through, the fall of a turbo boost could break the suspension, the impact of a missile could crack the chassis or bend the rear or front axle depending on where it had hit, one would argue that there was still the Nano-skin to block said hits, but in reality the Nano-skin's work was to block and repair damage, but the initial shockwave of the impact would still remain, this was what could cause damage in areas that were not fully protected by the skin, like internal components for the most part, that was why they needed to change some parts that could be in danger of breaking, the next area they needed to get access to was installing the weapons, for this they needed to remove some of the body panels in order to be able to refit said guns, for that however they left Mike and Billy to do it while Sarah and Zoe left to work on what would be her scanner bar, unlike what most people would think the scanner bar was far from being for show, behind the scanner was located a large set of components that where directly tied to the AI's central core, this was one of the reasons that the scanner area on the outside and the console area on the inside where the most vulnerable parts of an AI, they both made up what made them 'them' for this very reason it was an area that took very long to actually get done, it took the two advanced techs close to four hours to make sure that everything was in order, the tricky part now was getting the thing to the car intact, since it was actually very heavy, between the two of them they placed it in one of the carts that they had around and started to take it to the main chamber, by then, Mike and Billy where finishing off and placing back the last panel "well, you two took long enough"

"well, Mike, these things take time, it's a very delicate and intricate part of the AI and we needed to make sure that it was flawless before installing it, we couldn't risk any mistakes in any of the codes or programs or things could go very wrong, I'm sure you know what I mean by that"

"oh yeah, I know what a mistake like that can cause, no need to remind me Sarah"

"well, enough talk, we need you two to get the hood and clear the area where the scanner is going to be sitting, keep the cables in hand so that we can finish this faster and move on" the two did as instructed then, three large cables that had ports that would look similar to those in the HDMI cables wend deep into the engine compartment, getting lost amongst the parts, Sarah and Zoe got the scanner in place then, the two others plugged in the cables and secured them to the scanner, leaving the many other smaller cables that needed to be plugged it to the previous two. All in all the whole process of fitting all the missing hardware had taken them the whole day, just as they finished connecting the last cables to the scanner it was just past nightfall, Sarah stood straight back up and reached up to close the hood, leaving the now dark scanner right in the perfect place after the hood was closed, with the hit of a few keys on the keyboard a low hum filled the room, signaling the computer was starting to boot up once more, the dark scanner came back to life with a bright white, the three others turned to look at Sarah with a questioning look "relax, it's not supposed to be white, the AI will determine a specific color based off of multiple characteristics that to us would remain unknown and the AI itself would probably find hard to explain" Mike turned to look at KITT then, the Mustang took no time in taking the hint "That is true Michael" once again they all turned to look at the white Mustang, the scanner was still white and a single line was continuously moving left, jumping from one end of the scanner to the other, this lasted about a minute before it filled with light completely, it cycled through several colors then, predominantly showing shades of blues and reds, it turned off once more before coming back on with a bright rose red, a brighter shade than that of KITT's ruby red scanner, the techs exchanged looks as the tracking motion of the scanner started, mimicking the black Mustang's own, Sarah took a small step forwards then "KIFT, what is your status?"

there was a moment of silence before the AI finally answered "all systems are working to their full capacity, and I want to say that I thank you all for everything that you have done for me thus far" came back the new melodic soft voice that the computer had created for itself, fitting perfectly the calm demeanor that this AI possessed "we're glad to hear it, and there is nothing to thank, but the gesture is equally appreciated. We are still not done, tomorrow we will start on getting you a new paintjob with specialized paint that had the Nano-skin infusion that will serve as a protection against most threats, if you are to go out in the field we need to get that ready, once that is done we will take the following days to train with you and get you used to the new systems, hopefully in a few weeks' time you will be ready" the AI thanked them once more before the four retied to get some rest for tomorrow, at the moment KIFT was too busy going through the new systems, marveling at the difference that the new scanner that KITT had mentioned to her a few days ago, before she could see things through what basically was echolocation, leaving everything in black with green mesh that signaled what was around her, now she was able to see everything clearly, every color, every light every single small detail that her systems were not able to detect beforehand was now clearly visible, and it marveled her how much she had truly missed before, she was able to feel that whatever new components that they had installed in her engine where really playing their part, every scan she performed over it revealed something new that aided for a better efficiency and fuel to power ratio, maximizing the power output that reached even farther limits thanks to more resistant parts that could tolerate higher temperatures, she was eager to go out in the field to test out all her new abilities, she wanted to see the outside world the way it truly was, all the colors that t could offer, hopefully tomorrow she would be able to see that when they took her out to where they were going to apply the new paint, she had read about the Nano-skin that they were going to apply to her now, quite a marvel to say the least, thousands and thousands of incredibly small Nano chips that where infused with the paint itself, all coded to act to the computer's command, how the connection between them created such a strong mesh that they could handle incredibly strong hits and repair damage on command. This was an opportunity to a new life, a change for good, there was going to be no others, she was going to take advantage of it as much as she could.

Morning came, this time it had been Mike the one to first get up, getting himself a cup of coffee, sitting down in the kitchen as he went through something in his laptop, the two AIs had been active for a while now, they had been minding their own business waiting patiently for the others to come out, eventually they did, meeting in the kitchen to eat before changing and getting ready to start, for this task Sarah and Zoe where going to be the only ones to take care of it, they picked up some large containers that KIFT supposed contained the paint, alongside that they took a sealed large black box, the box was placed across her two front seats while the containers remained in her trunk, the large double door that was the entrance to the chamber parted open and the two techs started to walk out through the tunnel while the AI followed behind, a few minutes later they were out in the main hangar, through the small windows at the top the car was able to see the various shades of gray that signaled a clouded sky that would soon bring rain, around the corner of the door they had come out of there was another set of double doors that leaded to the one building that remained here at the back of the hangar, inside was an empty white room that seemed to be design for this purpose alone, several white tarps neatly folded in a corner "okay KIFT, park in the center of the room please so we can start, we'll use the covers over there to cover your wheels, windows, lights and basically everything that is not supposed to get paint on" the AI did as instructed, opening her doors and trunk to allow the two woman to take out that things that they were going to be using, they used another large container on the side of the room that was connected to two spray guns to empty the white paint, after that they moved to the black box and opened it, revealing a sea of neatly ordered Nano chips, Zoe simple took the whole top tray and emptied it inside the tank with the paint, looking as if she was dropping fine white sand into the paint, she repeated this twice again before sealing the tank and letting it do whatever it needed to do to fuse the paint with the chips, by then Sarah had already covered her four wheels and was working on getting the windows and the other areas that needed to be protected, it took only several more minutes before it was done, the two started to work on removing part of the paint that she had in areas where it could affect the bonding between the metal and the new paint, that took a few hours off of their day, by the time they were finished KIFT was able to hear the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof of the hangar they were in as well as the occasional thunder, she wanted to go out and see the rain, but that would have to wait for another day, at the time Zoe and Sarah where getting dressed with white garments that covered their clothes to avoid getting stains or polluting the finish, each of them took one of the spray guns that were attached to the large container, they moved to opposite sides of the car and started spraying the paint, the result of the specialized paint and the Nano chips ended up creating a beautiful metallic white color.

The several layers of paint that had been sprayed throughout the last few hours had left the car in a shining white coat that looked like it could glow with the white lights around the room reflecting off of the car's surface, they had used the full paint tank they had filed out, the two techs felt tempted to leave her with just her white finish, but they knew that they needed to complete the look with the double ocean blue racing stripes. Sarah added some more covers around the car, leaving only the area that was going to have the blue striper visible while Zoe got the blue paint ready, mixing less paint than before, just as it had happened with the white paint the blue light-ish liquid came out as a deep royal blue that made a beautiful contrast to the shining white, the several layers that took for the paint to fuse properly with the body and create the intended shielding took another couple of hours, to finish off they repeated the mixing process with the specialized electrically charged clear coat that created the final connections between all the Nano chips that covered her body, this last layer required two full hours before it was done, plus another three until it was dry, the good thing was that because they were still inside the hangar she would be able to move back to the main chamber to allow the paint to set properly throughout the night. As soon as they were done with the last layer both women removed their white covers as well as those on the car, they marveled at the sight of the brand new look that the AI had, the white light in the room helped show how much the metallic white paint glowed with the infusion it had received and how well the royal blue stripes contrasted perfectly, seemingly absorbing the light emanated from the white reflection in its shiny finish. "so KIFT, what do you think?"

The AI used the two cameras that where in two corners of the room to get a look at her new paintjob, it took her a few seconds before answering "this it truly marvelous, I thank you both for your hard work and for keeping my original white and blue colors, this is truly a beautiful work on both of you" she finished as the rose red scanner seemed to glow brighter with pride, the three left the room once more to get back inside the main chamber, the sky looked dark through the windows, but not too dark, it probably wasn't too far after nightfall.

Zoe and Sarah walked in first, calling the attention of the three boys in the room, interrupting whatever they had been doing "so you're back, where's KIFT?" Billy immediately asked, eager to get a first look at the newly completed AI

"right here" Zoe said as both stepped aside from the tunnel allowing KIFT to drive down into the chamber and park in the gimbal once more, Mike and Billy's jaws dropped to the ground after seeing how much some layers of paint could change a car's appearance this much, it was obvious though yes, but this was truly something else, the specialized paint used for these AIs gave the cars a distinctive look, in KITT's case the infusion had given his midnight black paint a blue tint that shone in the light with the double matte black stripes, in KIFT's case her metallic white paint ended up taking a pearled look that gave a gold reflection in some angles that contrasted with the glossy double royal blue stripes, something never seen before, after they had gone through the initial shock the two approached to get a closer look, but stopped as soon as Sarah warned them off, telling them that the paint needed some hours to dry off completely, but they assured them that there was still one more surprise when that happened, because of the special properties of the new paint one it was dry completely it was incredibly smooth to the touch, KITT's skin was really soft as it was, but KIFT's skin would be even more due to the simple fact that it would've just finished drying off in a few hours, they kept talking for a little while longer before finally deciding to get something to eat and call it a night shortly after.

The two guys hadn't been the only ones impressed by the car's new look, KITT had been mesmerized by it the moment he saw the beautiful reflections that the white infusion produced, it was something he had never seen before, the way the white paint had that gold shine in the light and the double royal blue striped that created the perfect combination, who would've thought, a color as different as it was from the original black, yet that managed to be just as mesmerizing to witness, it wasn't long afterwards that KIFT started her recharge mode, but who could blame her really? That seemed to be his que as well, so a few minutes after he followed her actions

The following day everyone got up earlier than usual, agreeing the night before that they would start her training earlier, that and the fact that they were all eager to know the final result of yesterday's work, the final finish was beautiful, now that the paint was finally completely dry the reflections created beautiful lines across the body, adding the reflections to the already shiny surface, Billy was the first one to approach, silently asking the Mustang if it was okay, to which she answered with a light flash of her scanner, the tech brought his hand down on the car's hood, his face immediately changing at the tough "you guys have to feel this. It's amazing! It's like nothing I've ever seen before" the others moved in then and changed to the same reaction, to the touch the car's surface was similar to that of the softest silk, a property that would diminish with time but will forever remain different from any other paint "okay guys, enough we have work to do, but first we have to set up the sensory program, meanwhile I work in this with KITT you three can go prepare the course outside for the tests" with a rather reluctant look the three headed outside, Sarah started opening several programs in her computer before leaving to find a large cable that she plugged into the computer, keeping the other end in hand "okay KIFT, could you open your hood please? This is the last thing we need to get installed" a loud click filled the room as the lock in the hood was released

"may I ask, Sarah, what is is it that this program is?"

"what this program is going to be doing is link the Nano chips that where mixed with your paint to each other via a special frequency that will link them together and create the connection to the sensory program that will allow you to control the Nano-skin as well as allow you to be able to actually feel physical touch" the last part kept the AI thinking, this was going to be a big leap right now, she knew no difference at the moment, but she was sure that once the program was properly active it was going to make it impossible to go back to not feeling anything, one side of her was looking forward to the feel, the other was more inclined to leave things as they were, but she knew that this program could come in to be even more useful than some might think, aiding in finding the direction of the source of an attack, it will aid in getting a better feel for her size when it came to moving around relatively small spaces, sort of how people could measure if they could go through a certain space without even thinking about it, Sarah plugged in the cable and KIFT immediately felt the rush of energy that came with it "okay, there is just one more thing, as soon as the chips match your frequency you will go through a sensory overload for a few seconds while the system adjusts to the codes that I will be feeding it, I need you to just hang on until the data stream is over" the flash of the scanner was the only response she got, taking it by what it was the tech went back to sit in the stations in front of her, she set her systems to be at the ready and braced for the impact that was soon to come, Sarah gave her a short countdown before pressing the key in the keyboard, not even a second later and not even a second later she felt the rush of the new program setting in, it had been too much information to process and it ended up blocking out her systems, she felt everything, yet there was nothing, she was in control, yet the power remained out of her reach, what felt like an eternity in reality was less than ten seconds, the power input started to slowly balance out and she started to regain control of all of her other systems, suddenly she became aware again, she was able to feel her own weight over her tires, the light breeze that fell on her from the vent on the wall next to her, the cable that was running out of her hood and falling over her front bumper, she was entranced by the new sensations that where going over her processor, she took a glance at the big screen in front of her and was able to see the smooth flow of core activity that was then interrupted by large irregular spikes that showed the moment when the system's input had started only to then gradually return to normal, KIFT noticed that Sarah was getting up from her place and walking up to her "KIFT, what's your status?"

"The sensory program is now installed and running at full capacity, and I must say that it makes a very big difference to how I used to be before"

"yeah, it really is something, now, I'm going to remove the cable and close your hood, you will be able to feel where I'm touching, it will feel strange at first because you are not used to the feeling of physical touch, but as you get used to it it'll be more normal, just so you know" Sarah bent down to plug the cable off and close the hood, the moment she laid her hands on the hood to close it she was able to feel a light shiver as the Nano technology shifted under her touch, it was probably going to be doing this for the next day as well, that's how long it had taken KITT to get used to the feeling and she had no doubts that it would be like that for KIFT as well, she closed the hood as KIFT thanked her once more, she gave the AI a few more minutes to go through the system for a little, after that both AIs and the tech went out to the hangar where the course was being set, by the time they arrived the curse was being finished, KITT was going to set a time to beat so that KIFT could start getting used to all of her new systems and the fact that for the first time her systems where properly complete made her eager to try them out and test her new capabilities fully, everyone was at the beginning of the track with tablets in hand that showed her statistics so that they could monitor her performance, when everything was ready KITT took off, gaining speed in the first straight before falling into a drift that took him around a tight corner, he waved through some more cones in a zig-zag manner before shooting out on the last straight that ended on him drifting sideways to stop completely in a margin between two boxes, Billy looked up from his tablet and turned to the white Mustang "57 seconds is your time to beat, you have as many tries as you need" KIFT headed to the beginning of the track as KITT drove out of where he had finished and parked behind everyone, as soon as Sarah gave the signal she took off, gaining speed in the straight before mimicking KITT's drift, hitting a few cones in the process, the zig-zag went smoothly enough, only slightly hitting the last cone, the end drift went a little less smooth, a light miscalculation ended with her front end hitting one of the boxes and sending it a few meters back, she herself knew she had done bad, she felt the times she hit the obstacles as well as both felt and saw when she hit the box "61 seconds, not that bad for your first time, and considering you just had all your systems completed and installed you actually did pretty good, give it another try, see f you can beat your previous time" without a work KIFT moved back to the beginning, she repeated the track once more, this time without knocking any cones in the first drift but still managing to fail at the very end to park between the boxes, her time dropped down to 59 seconds just then and after a few more tries she managed to get it right with a time of 56 seconds, according to Zoe and Sarah her internal systems were working in normal range, putting down power with extreme efficiency that was not too much unlike KITT's after that had been settled everyone went back to the main chamber to get a few things balanced correctly, but it was now finally official, KIFT was physically ready to go out in the field, but there was still a few more days of practice that she could have with KITT for the system's internal working that the others couldn't help her with, but that was going to be something for some other day.

 **reviews are always appreciated**


	6. Ch 6 Taken

_Ok sorry this took so long but school's been really tough lately and I only gat to write on the weekend and occasionally between classes, but this is a long one so enjoy, like this one next chapter might take a while too but it'll come, just you wait_

 **Ch. 6 Taken**

It had been almost two weeks since the first test they had, KIFT had learned a lot about controlling most of her systems by now, there were few that she still needed to learn how to use, mainly consisting on being able to control and have access to her guns, but that could be left for later, at the time she was out in the road with KITT going over other ways to gain speed faster in case the situation called for it, this time they were focusing on angling the turbo boost to propel them forwards instead of upwards, it was relatively easy to accomplish as long as you had the proper angle for the boosters and use the correct amount of nitrous for it, too little and the boos would be too small to provide any sort of proper acceleration, too much and it would send the car into a small jump with forwards impulse, after going over it for a little and trying it out a few times without any inconvenience they got it through and started to head back, the sky was starting co fill with dark clouds then, blocking the orange rays from the sunset

"You've made great improvements these past few days, you're learning to control your systems in less time than expected"

"It's not that hard when you have the codes for everything as well as someone to teach you personally, I have to say that most of my progress has been thanks to you more than anything"

"don't give me that much credit, you are the one that did everything, I just show you how to start, the rest was all you" the two AIs kept driving down the road back to the SSC, the sky was getting darker by the minute until there was only the muffles light that managed to go through the thick clouds remained. The two Mustangs arrived at their base just as thunder started to break the otherwise silent landscape, KITT got on his gimbal while KIFT parked in the space next to him, soon after Sarah came from one of the adjacent hallways to the room carrying a tabled "KITT, do you think you can go give rounds around the surrounding roads?"

"of course Sarah, but why?"

"there is a strange energy spike that appeared north west from here a few minutes ago, we don't know what it was but it's too close to the base's expanse, it could've been anything caused by the thunderstorm but it's better to be sure about it" Without another word the gimbal started to turn around while the chamber doors opened, the AI shot out of the room and out of the tunnel as the hangar doors opened revealing the storm that had started to brew outside, pouring rain and black clouds reduced the visibility to a minimum, he had to turn on his lights on their brightest setting as well as guide himself via scanner, he drove at a relatively high speed keeping his sensors at their maximum intensity while he approached the zone where Sarah had said the energy spike had happened, occasionally he would get big energy readings but he knew it was probably due to the lightning that was falling around the area, the occasional flashes of light helped him see his surrounding area with more clarity for brief seconds, after driving around slower in the immediate are Sarah had detected the signal without finding anything he called back to the SSC before starting his way back, the rain had started to stop pouring and was quickly reduced to a mildly strong shower, now that the visibility had gone back to a decent distance he was able to turn off his lights to remain in the dark, the only sound around was that of his engine and the drops of water that crashed against his surface, there was still a little while longer until he reached the SSC's perimeter, there was nothing that could tell him that just across the road in one of the following intersections there remained a small cable stretched across the street he was traveling through, the intersection would force him to slow down, and hidden with the dry flora of the desert peeked the tip of the long barrel of a missile launcher, underneath the dirt right next to where the car was going to stop remained a small device that generated a small electromagnetic wave, as predicted, the Mustang started to slow down as the intersection approached. KITT knew he could keep driving through the intersection, his scanners would tell him if there was anything close to it, but he knew that his scanners where never all that perfect, nothing really was perfect, so he started to slow down and stopped completely at the edge of it, he was barely able to do anything when he heard the trigger of a gun with its subsequent explosion, before he could do anything he felt the incredibly strong hit of the missile in his rear fender, he knew his tire had probably exploded on impact and remained now shredded to pieces, he felt his sensors on that area overload before dying, that missile had been by far the time where he had felt the most pain so far, he felt the area of the direct impact start to lose all sensation and become numb as he tumbled in the wet dirt on the side of the road where the gun had sent him to, he got three flips before stopping on his side, his side mirror was buried in the soft muddy ground, he needed to ask for help, whoever had done this had to have knowledge about AIs, or at least of himself, he needed to let them know before it was too late, as he was about to send the signal, however, he received an error, he had no access to the web, and as he realized this he noticed that the rest of his systems where starting to shut down, there was nothing he could do, he was trapped.

The SSC was in relative silence now, the sound of computers and the occasional far off thunder was the only thing breaking the otherwise silent building, Sarah was sitting in one of the chairs in the desk in front of them, the other two techs where with Mike in the kitchen getting something to eat, ever since KITT had called back to tell Sarah that there was nothing where she had detected the signal she immediately relaxed, after all that had happened the past few days there was no knowing what could be around the corner, at least the storm had stopped. A little while longer went by, Sarah snapped out of what she was doing and realized that KITT had still yet to be back, it shouldn't be this long, he was not all that far and he could drive fast even with rain, he should've been back by now…she sat straight up and accessed her computer opening KITT's tracking application, after a few seconds of processing a map opened in the big screen, showing a red dot in the middle of the dessert, the tech zoomed in and saw the unmoving dot in the road, worried that the AI wasn't moving she accessed his communications and called him, but there was no answer, that was very unlike the black Mustang to do, he would usually answer immediately…unless… "KIFT, I need you to get to this location, I'm going out with you"

"what happened?"

"KITT is supposed to be on his way back here but he's not moving nor answering my calls, something happened and we need to know if he's okay" without any further words KIFT opened her door for Sarah, the tech climbed up and closed the door as the white Mustang started to turn around in order to be able to drive out the tunnel, bore that however Mike came back into the room running from one of the hallways "Sarah, wait, where are you going?"

"I need to check something out, I told KITT to investigate a strong signal a while ago and he should've been back by now"

"you tried contacting him already?"

"Several times, but he's not answering. I'm going to go look for him with KIFT, hopefully we'll just meet him on the way back and this is all just caused by the storm that just passed" after that Mike took a few steps back as the Mustang took off, reaching the hangar in no time, the roads where still damp with the previous rain, it was now completely dark except for the occasional lightning that would shoot across the otherwise black sky, It took them a few more minutes than they had expected but KIFT stopped at the origin of the signal to see nothing but an empty road, there was nothing there, no one around and no trace of anything "KIFT, do a scan o the immediate area, tell me what you can find" Sarah said as she climbed down, worry tinting her words, KIFT did as instructed and after a few seconds she gave out her results "There are traces of footsteps around the dirt immediately next to this section of the road, several sets of footsteps at that, a couple tire tracks, four where those of a heavier car, the other two had a lighter load, there also seems to be a disturbance in the dirt to your left, a few meters away as well" Sarah turned in the direction that KIFT had said, there was indeed a piece of the ground where the dirt looked like it had been moved relatively recently, she kneeled down and dug down until she touched something solid, taking it with both hands the took it out and walked in front on KIFT to be able to get in in the light, as soon as she identified what was in her hands she immediately looked back to KIFT, fear clearly written in her features, in her hands remained a gray block no bigger than a toaster with broken cables in one side and a few other components on the top of it, I took Sarah only seconds to identify it as the one component in KITT that managed the location and communication systems, that was why she was receiving the signal from here, something had happened to him, whoever got him knew exactly what they were dealing with, they had probably been the ones to create the one signal that she had sent KITT out to investigate, it had been her fault, she should've sent KIFT out with him as well "Sarah…I just found something else"

"what did you get KIFT?"

"on the intersection that remains some little ways away from us has traces of explosives, there was an important disturbance in the ground next to where said traces are…I don't like how this is looking"

"neither do I, KIFT, call back to the SSC, someone just took KITT, we need to find him and we can't lose any more time" The Mustang immediately complied and Sarah explained to them what it had happened immediately, the two wasted no time in getting to work on trying to find a way of locating KITT when they had nothing to go for, because they had taken out KITT's primary location and communications system there was no way for them to have a clue as to where he was, the only thing they knew was the direction they had left, from there they had to work on their own from scratch…

He didn't know what had happened after all his systems shut down, whatever it was he now realized that he was inside a trailer, moving, where? He didn't know, he tried accessing his communications to see if he could by any chance contact the SSC, to his surprise he couldn't even access said system, as soon as he tried he received an error 'Program not found. Missing components' …what?...he did a check up on all of his systems and effectively found out that the physical component that focused on his location and communication systems had been pulled out rather messily, the system hadn't even been plugged out, the cabled had been plainly ripped off and some still remained in their sockets, whoever he was facing at the moment it couldn't be good, after a few more minutes he realized that there was something off, right on his rear fender he could feel that where the missile had hit in his fender he could feel numb, two possibilities could lead to that, either the missile had fried his Nano-skin on impact in that area of that it had plainly cracked open his fender, which, by the strength of the impact and the data de had recovered from it, it was plausible possibility, it was weird to him, being used to felling everything and every part of him through his Nano technology, and now he had a large are where he couldn't feel anything, it was more than just uncomfortable. After a few more minutes they stopped, rather abruptly at that, if his wheels hadn't been secured to the floor of the trailer he would've for sure hit the wall in front of him, as soon as the double back doors flung open he knew that the missile had truly cracked open his fender, exposing sensitive internal components and cables, he felt the chilly night wind rolling in, rain was going to start pouring down in less than an hour judging by the temperature and strength of the wind.

Two men climbed behind him and he shut off his scanner right away, to them as long as it was off he was still deactivated, and that was fine by him, his left rear tire had been shredded to pieces, there was no way of escaping like that through who knows what type of terrain, it couldn't be done, the only thing he hoped was that there was some way in which he could at least send out a signal through something to give his friends at the SSC something to go for, the two men that had opened the doors had now placed a ramp to be able to pull him down using the same chains they had used to secure him to the truck, the ground was a muddy mess, still slippery from the previous rain, they started to pull him, his weight, being bigger than that of a normal car caused the two to pull to no avail as soon as KITT hit the ground, two more approached and started to pull as well, managing to finally move him, he felt the wind whooshing past his exposed area and found himself hoping that the rain wouldn't come until he was at least somewhere where the rain wouldn't get to him, if that was the case there was a big risk of water filtering through and damaging more important internal components and plainly making his whole situation worst, time seemed to slow down as the four struggled to pull him to where he was going to be staying, he could see the black clouds rolling in and thunder were already part of the night ambiance, it could start raining any second now. There was a tent not too far away that he suspected was where he was heading, inside remained a small aluminum platform anchored to the ground, after a few more minutes he found himself on top of said platform, the chains that they had used to pull him had been removed, he saw one of them approach with other straps to secure him to the platform, in response he turned on his engine with a deep roar as his double ruby red scanner came back on with a flash, the two men that remained around him jumped back in shock at the unexpected sound, KITT couldn't do much than that to keep them away from him, after a few minutes they seemed to give up on prying to secure him, instead two more came from around the corner of the open tent carrying a square device of sorts, setting it in front of him one of them left while the other attached a small rope to said device while keeping the other end in hand, the guy that had left earlier came back carrying a missile that was not unlike the one that had knocked him out in the first place, he focused his attention completely in said thing, it surprised him to see that it was nothing more than a modified version of the Knight industries missiles that Torres had, that was the only way whoever ran this operation could've gotten them, and the knowledge about himself, being smart enough to actually physically remove his location and communication system…there was only one possible connection, the client that KARR had said Torres was working with had to be the leader of this place, seeing that the agent had failed to provide him with his AIs he had decided to take matters into his own hands and try to make one himself by getting him to be here, if that was the case then it shouldn't be long until they met.

By the time the Mustang realized he had zoned out in thought he realized the the other end of the rope that was attached to the rocket launcher less than three meters from him was now tied to one of his wheels, if he moved backwards, he would set it off, move forwards and the result would probably be similar to that, there was no way out, the entrance to the tent had been closed, but he could detect two guards standing right outside, but anything further than that he couldn't see, he just now realized that there was yet another dampening field around either the tent or the entire camp he was in, either case he was still oblivious as to what could be happening outside his immediate area and still unable to contact he SSC in any way. Before he could start thinking of a way out he noticed approaching footsteps that stopped at the entrance of the tent, he was here.

He couldn't believe his luck when he received a call that the guy that was supposed to provide him with his cars had been taken down a month before shipment, he had even called him less than a week ago claiming that he had managed to get his hands on the Knight three thousand, the AI he was going to use for the base program along with some other stuff he really didn't care about, the only good thing that had resurfaced from this fiasco had been the acquisition of said AI's home base location, the rest had been relatively easy, with the knowledge he had, as few as it might've been, he was able to organize his men to take it down and bring it here, now, he had received the news that the AI had arrived and was now secured in the assigned tent, finally, it was time, he was finally going to meet face to face with the most advanced artificial intelligence ever created by mankind. He walked from his office on the other side of the camp, he walked, stopping only at the entrance of the tent to give his men a few more orders, as soon as the two left he came through the flaps of said thing, coming in contact with the slightly beat and battered shape of a black car covered in dirt and mud, a bright red scanner quickly moving back and forth on top of the car's grille, the only real hint of the truly advanced technology the vehicle possessed, the only important damage he could see was that of the large open crack in its rear fender, that had probably been where the first missile had struck, and he was glad that the rest of his internal components were probably intact, to his surprise, he noticed as he walked around, there were no restrains that kept the car in place, true on of its tires had been blown to shreds but otherwise it was free to go since if this was an advanced AI like such it would take it no time in figuring out another way out despite its situation, but as he walked around and back to the front he saw that his men had been smart enough to use one of their missiles as a security measure to make sure it wouldn't try and escape, and the car was smart enough to not try that very thing, despite everything truly a magnificent piece of machinery in his eyes, and in a few days' time he would have one for his own, hearing voices approaching he turned to the entrance to see two of his guards entering the tent with the tech they managed to acquire held between them "Good to see you are still with us, now, you know what to do, take care of it and don't try anything, you know the consequences" when he finished speaking the guards let him go, pushing him towards the car, making him fall down in front of it, the three just retreated after that.

the man that they had left inside was relatively small in his build compared to the rest of the people KITT had seen, by the looks of it he had probably been taken from his home to help them with their little deeds against his own will, it took him a little over a minute to actually get back up, his immediate reaction was to take a few steps back from the Mustang, seeing the red scanner tracking back and forth uneasily on the car's grille, his eyes danced over the large shape before resting on the covered computer that was resting on the opposite side of the room a few meters away from the car, he knew what he had to do, if he wanted to keep himself and his family alive he had to obey, but giving these people such technology would bring more death and chaos for sure. He kept looking over the AI, whatever they had used to bring it down had surely damaged some important components, judging by the way the car looked, aside of the dirt that was covering it, he risked a walk around but stopped at the exposed cables and internal components showing through the crack on its fender, he kneeled down to get a closer look, the edges of the crack were jagged and burned, the circuitry inside had some scorch marks but looked otherwise in good shape, but the cables in the immediate area had been damaged, the isolating plastic cover around most of them had been either damaged of it had left the cable completely exposed, he knew that for a computer as advanced as this was even the smallest things could cause catastrophic damage, especially having an area like this completely exposed like that

The tech stood back up completely and looked around the room for something he could use to at least temporarily cover the area to protect it from getting damaged any further, off to the side of the tent he was able to spot some loose ropes, on the other side of the room the covering that the computer had seemed to be thick enough to work if folded properly and because it was made to protect the computer from any sort of dirt, dust or water, then it could do the work. After some minutes of cutting and tying he managed to create a temporal cover that would slightly protect the sensitive circuitry, taking the longer ends of the rope that he had tied to one end of the cover he threw them over the car's trunk, the two ropes on the opposite end he kicked them under the car, one on each side of the wheel, after that he walked to the back of the car and laid on the ground, he reached underneath it and pulled the roped he had kicked under it to be almost all the way across, pulling the ones he had thrown over the top down he tied the four ends together tightly, he got out from under the car and stood up to inspect his work, to his surprise the makeshift covering over the crack had remained in place and was now tightly secured to the car, as long as it didn't move too much, which probably wouldn't be the case, everything should be good. He knew he was losing time, that he should be already working on getting access to the AI's files and coding, but the truth was that eh really didn't want to do it, he knew about the high level of intelligence that the car in front of him possessed, he was already damaged and the stress of having someone forcing their way through the barriers to get access to its main programing would only make things worst…how could he get out of this? What was there to do?...

The AI's processor was racing when he saw the man approach his damaged fender, he was debating if he should warn him off like he had the others or wait to see what his true intentions were, he watched with interest as he took some ropes and the computer's covering, fiddling with them until he made a square patch with four pieces of rope attached to it, truly curious now he decided to let him do his work, fiddling with the ropes around his back end he felt him pull on them, tying them together underneath him tightly, and even though it wasn't the most comfortable thing, the contraption fulfilled its purpose rather well, it provided a good cover for the exposed circuitry for the time being, he had been worried for the possible risks that it could oppose later on for being exposed out to the open. He noticed just then that after he was done the man just stood where he was behind him, looking blankly into oblivion before bringing his hands up against his head, murmuring a barely audible "What can I do?..." acting against his better judgement and programing he opted to speak to the man, maybe between the two of them they could work out an escape plan, the Mustang turned on his engine, producing a low rumble that caught the man's attention, making him immediately look back up to the car while taking a few steps back as he walked around to see the front of it, keeping his distance and being cautious "h-hello, I am sorry if I bothered you, I was j-just trying to help you, I saw the opening on your rear fender and I know how easily that type of circuitry can be damaged, I-I know I couldn't do much but I wanted to help" he took a deep breath just then, before he could speak again, however, KITT took his turn

"I thank you for what you have done, yet I have to ask, why? I am sure you have orders to follow and this was surely not one of them"

"no…it wasn't. the true reason why they brought me here was to get as much information about your programing as possible, I don't know exactly what they plan on doing with it, but it can't be good…but…I don't want to do it, I do have an appreciation for technology like yourself and doing something like that doesn't seem right to me, I mean I know nothing about this place is right but…"

"I have been working on an escape plan, it is doable and I could send an emergency signal to the rest of my team so they they know where I am"

"but what if we get caught?"

"leave that to me, for now we need to start working with this as soon as possible"

"okay, so, what is your plan?"

"like every other type of wave, the electromagnetic field around us can be cancelled, if I manage to find the proper wavelength it has I can produce an EMP of my own with a half wavelength difference, this will cancel out the waves as a result of the destructive interference and will give us a few seconds of a window to transmit the signal, I will send said signal to the computer so that you can broadcast it as soon as I tell you to, but it will take me a bit longer to actually find the proper wavelength being transmitted"

"I have to be doing something in the meantime though, if they come back and see me doing nothing then…well…"

"I will help you in any way I can in that regard, for now the sooner we send this signal out the sooner we can escape, we can help you get back to your home from there"

"it wouldn't be the same, we would still be at risk"

"leave that problem to us, we'll solve everything, but now I need you to help me do this. The computer was already on so I just transmitted the encoded signal to it, the only thing you need to do is send it as soon as the lights go out, that will be when I release the EMP that will block the shield for a few seconds" the guy nodded after that and went back to sit on the computer, opening several of the programs needed to get access and copy the AI's systems, just in case any unwanted visitors peeked by and to be able to hide the signal being prepared, after some good ten minutes the Mustang finally gave him the signal, and with the pressing of a button the signal was transmitted, the only problem they had now was that the lights were out almost everywhere in the complex but there, people were sure to come, and they were going to get him into a lot of trouble, and of course, five minutes later, said and done…

The three techs were in a flurry of activity, each one of them performing the same task of trying to find KITT, ever since Sarah had called back to them from the desert the work had started, there was, however, no way of knowing anything about his whereabouts, his location systems had been literally ripped off, without it there was no way for them to get to KITT, or for him to get to them, he would need to access an external source to be able to make contact, and even that would be incredibly risky of his part, and that was taking into consideration that he would at least be able to even transmit anything, if wherever he was was protected by an electromagnetic shield then the chances of him making contact with them were very slim. The three had given KIFT KITT's unique signal, that way they could get an extra set of eyes on the look, it had already been several hours and there was still nothing, not even a slight clue as to where could they've possibly taken him off to, and for what purpose even? They all had so many questions that would either remained unanswered or would take them a while before they could figure them out. Ran had started to fall once more, several theories and ideas had been discarded already based off of what little information they were able to obtain, in the middle of one of their discussions KIFT suddenly turned on her engine and shot out of the building without any warning, startling the three techs, Sarah immediately accessed her communications through the main computer "SSC to Knight Four Thousand, do you copy? KIFT what's wrong, what happened?"

"I'm sorry for driving out like that, but I have detected a distress signal from somewhere in the mountain range north east from here, I believe it might be from KITT"

"but how come the complex didn't receive it then?"

"The signal is very faint, and it's vanishing by the second, that is why I had to go so quickly, in order to be able to keep following it before it dissipates completely"

"okay, keep following but we want audio and video feed at all times, go as fast as you need to, send us your estimated route and we'll monitor the streets ahead to make sure it's all clear"

"I am already traveling as fast as I am able to, but I believe my possible destination is still four more hours away"

Sarah turned to look at the two techs with a knowing look, Billy and Zoe exchanged looks between them before nodding and focusing back on their computers, Sarah looked back at the screen "KIFT, in a few seconds you'll notice a new system opening up, we wanted to wait a little longer so that you could get used to it beforehand but as we see it we might not have another choice, as soon as you see it, go for it, we'll keep in contact"

The communications link ended then, and just as she had said KIFT felt a new area in her main core that she hadn't seen before, she swiftly accessed it and activated it and a second later she found herself being startled by the feeling of moving parts as her back end grew wider, a large spoiler took shape in her rear as her tires grew thicker and her blue stripes faded to leave a bright white finish over the morphing body, her windows took a pitch black tint while an extra air intake took place on top of her hood and her scanner bar became thinner, overall giving the entire car a leaner, yet bigger look, KIFT felt the change immediately as new components that she didn't knew where there were activated, the shift in her internal readings that signaled a new top speed, temperature and performance, with that, also came a change in the sound of her engine, giving it a deeper and more menacing growl that was accompanied by the whine of the higher powered turbo charger. without wasting any more time and after getting over her initial shock she starts to put her new abilities to work. Her speed rapidly climbed and by the time she reached her new top speed the travel time had been reduced considerably.

The lights had been restored roughly a minute after KITT had used his own EMP to block the shield and send out the signal, it lasted only a few seconds before the shield was restored the guy that was helping him ran back to the computer to close everything and delete the signal file that the Mustang had sent. He was barely able to be eliminated before a loud set of footsteps started to approach, running to the other side of the room he grabbed some tools and got to the front of the car to drop them, getting his hands on the Mustang's hood, pretending to be trying to open it. This had actually taken the AI by surprise until he realized what he was trying to do, in response, and yet again going against his better judgement he opened his hood, surprised, the tech quickly buried himself inside the compartment right as the tent flaps opened and a group of guards came in, accompanied by the rather elegant looking man that he assumed was the leader of this little operation. "What the hell did you do?"

He got up from inside the engine compartment and closed the hood "What? Why?"

"half the complex's lights are out, and it just happened to happen when you were working on the car"

"I didn't know that…I might've set something off while working on it"

"oh course you did" he turned to look at the guards "search the room, verify the computer" with that said the four guards started to move about the room, searching every corner and under every box for who knows what, mother one moved to the computer and stared to search through the files, as KITT saw this, however, he hacked into it and retrieved the file right before they found it, without a doubt they knew that the power outage had been caused by them, but as long as they couldn't find anything to blame them for they should be fine. Of course they were going to stop at the contraption the tech had made to protect his exposed, curious about said thing one of them moved to remove it, "no, wait!" everyone turned to look at the younger guy as he jumped towards them to stand blocking the covering he had made "All his circuitry is exposed there and if something gets in it could damage them" at this the suited man took a few steps towards him "you just called it a 'him'…you spoke to it…"

"I-I didn't I swear it just came out of my mouth for some reason"

"you spoke to it!"

"No, I swear!"

"take him away guys, find out what he knows," at this the two guards that were closer to him grabbed him by his arms to take him out of the tent as he struggled to get free in vain, another one of the guards sat down at the near computer and started typing in some commands as 'He' approached the Mustang, standing directly in front on it as a low grumble emanated from the car's engine, two more came from outside and started working on getting the car's hood open, after the young tech had closed it vaguely the Mustang forgot to lock it back up, and before he could react he had four hands pushing to get it open, he used all the strength he could muster to keep it closed, but in the end they were able to open it fully, using a small aluminum beam that was somewhere in the tent to keep it open, they brought some cables from somewhere else and plugged them in into certain ports that had a relatively quick access to his core, how did they know where exactly they needed to plug said cables was beyond him, he had too many questions and very few answers, the feeling of flowing data coming into him only helped making matters worse for his already racing processor, the opposite end of the cables that had peen plugged into him had been plugged into the computer that was apparently more powerful that he had expected it to be. He felt it starting to fight for access to his core but KITT responded with equally strong blocks and encryptions, he couldn't let them get access to him, if the managed to break through it was game over for him and his friends back at base.

By the time she was approaching the location from where the signal had emanated she had gotten sort of used to controlling her new attack mode, as it was labeled in her internal systems, driving with some difficulty through a dirt road that would lead to the entrance to the camp ahead, she had already informed the SSC of her discovery and they were now monitoring her progress via their own satellite feed, she was there to only scan the area and retreat to work on a plan to get KITT back. the place was a relatively small area with apparently few people that she could see, shortly after she learned that she could possibly be wrong, a few areas In the near area remained as blank spots that she assumed where areas protected by some sort of shield, and she couldn't know what was inside said areas, so she would rather fall back and think about a way of going about the situation, however, before she could inform the SSC about said plan she detected a small signal for only a split second, as small as it had been, it lasted long enough for her to pick it up and detect that it matched the same characteristics from KITT's signal, It was his signal broadcasted somehow through one of the shields on the far end of the camp "Sarah, can you hear me?"

"we copy you down here but just barely so, what's the situation?"

"I'm going into the camp"

"what? No, KIFT wait we have to properly think about a plan before doing anything!"

"I just detected KITT's signal emanating for a split second from one of the shielded areas, whatever happened was important enough to manage to break through the barrier, we can't be wasting any more time"

"you can't go straight up in there either"

"we don't have time to wait, I'm going in" before Sarah or any of the techs could protest the AI shut off the communications link and shot into the camp in the general direction of the signal she had detected. Driving quickly around the area with serval bigger tents she scanned each one of them and sent the results back to the SSC, not even bothering in checking them beforehand, there were more important matters to attend to first, and the only thing she knew was that KITT was inside one of those tents. Mere seconds had passed and people were already starting to come out of wherever they had been to see what was causing so much noise, and no one was really expecting an unknown car to be making rounds around their camp. KIFT noticed that from one of the larger tents further to the side came a relatively large group of men, before she could try and make her way there, however, she noticed that there was now a considerable amount of people round the area she was in, some running around and some taking cover and aiming their guns, shortly after the fire shower started as bullets rained from every angle, for her this was the first time she felt what a bullet impact felt like, it was nothing that could be called pain, but it was becoming uncomfortable, thanks to her shield none where causing any damage but she still needed to find some cover, driving around the side of a proper building she was able to take a second to search for her best plan of action, her thoughts were then interrupted by a loud explosion as she shot out of her cover, being immediately received by people running away from what was the fiery ball that had once been a tent, it took her just a second to realize just then "That was where the signal had been broadcasted from…KITT?..."

 _Reviews are always welcome, opinions and ideas are also very appreciated_


	7. On Hold

Hello guys, just posting this to announce that the story is going to be on hold for a while, I don't really have a determined time period for this but if it isn't until December it will be until may or April next year due to school stuff. there's too much going on and I barely have time for anything and some paper that need to be handed in next month and November I haven't even started so I really have to focus on this for a while, I do have the next chapter half way through but I'd rather post it when I have some more progress to be more constant with the story, just hang on I will be resuming this in due time :)

also, thanks Lisa, that is very nice of you to say and I really appreciate it. don't worry though, I know how to deal with the haters ;)

See ya in a few months!


	8. Ch 8 Revelation

**well it's been quite some time since I logged back in here, workloads really are a killer sometimes am I right?**

Chapter 8. Revelation

"Ok guys what's your status back there?" Sarah said as she gripped the steering wheel of the white Mustang as they drove down the road leading back to the camp "KIFT said that last time she checked they were all still there but now we can't even get a visual"

"We're working on it, they reactivated their shields so we are working getting past them at the moment" Billy said though the connection "what about you Mike, are you guys getting anything?"

behind the white Mustang stood KITT and Mike, the latter remained driving as KITT focused on trying to bypass the shield over the camp "not yet Billy, we're working on it but I'll call back if we find anything here"

"Wait, guys I think I have it" another line opened this time to Zoe "I just got through the shield, the image has really bad quality but I think it's good enough for us to see what's going on. Sending it to you all as we speak" seconds later and a live feed appeared on both car's HUD for them to see, groups of people could be seen moving about the place but the damage from their previous encounter still remained "ok guys, we need to have a plan" Sarah was the first one to speak up after the feed played for a few more seconds, followed shortly by KIFT "I agree, and I have to say that out best move is that of surprise, if we manage to stay hidden until we are at the camp itself we could have a chance at working this out as fast as possible and with the least amount of casualties"

"I have to agree with her, Michael" KITT added afterwards "if we manage to create an EMP strong enough to disable their perimeter alarms we can stay out of detection for longer and have less chance of being noticed by their guards" Mike nodded in response as he looked at the Mustang's voice modulator "Seems like a god plan. Now the question is, KITT, can you or KIFT manage to create an EMP that is strong enough to reach that radius?"

"No, not at the moment anyways" Sarah interrupted "their EMP has a really good radius but not enough to cover the are we need to deactivate all of the perimeter alarms"

"there is still one more option Sarah" the tech turned to the HUD where KITT's voice modulator now appeared "KITT?"

"If KIFT and I align at a specific angle where our EMP waves overlap perfectly there is a chance to extend out range to a little under double its original radius"

"are you sure about that?"

"I just ran the simulations, our worst case scenario in any way is that the interference of both waves can be destructive and cancel each other out eliminating any effect, while If it creates a constructive interference the signal could be boosted out a larger distance"

"ok, if you're completely sure about that then let's not waste any more time"

The two cars managed to reach the edge of the camp's perimeter alarm system a while later, Mike and Sarah had left the cars to their own in order to position themselves at the angle they needed their EMP waves to interfere the way they needed them to create that boost in order for their plan to work as they intended it to. After positioning themselves KITT did a short countdown so that the two cars could fire their EMP simultaneously, the end result ended looking like some kind of light show where the blue wave that was KITT's EMP merged with KIFT's bright purple, creating a lighter shade of blue when the two mixed together in a large wave that spread around them.

"well that looked cool, but did it work?" Mike immediately asked, a screen opened up on KITT's HUD showing a blueprint of their immediate area with several glowing red dots that started to fade off one by one "I'll take that as a yes. Sarah, Billy, Zoe did you guys get that?"

"Yeah, KITT broadcasted it back to us" Billy said from his station at the SSC "all the perimeter alarms as far as the immediate entrance to the camp have been deactivated. You two should start moving up before they realize we're here"

"Got it, we're moving in" the chat line with the SSC then closed, leaving both AIs and humans on their own once more "ok, what is our plan now Sarah?"

"we go in and hold them back until the police arrive, they can take care of the people while we take care of their equipment and make sure they don't have anything they shouldn't have"

"when are we calling the cops?"

"I just did, they should arrive in just under ten minutes"

"then we better get going" with that the chat line was closed and both cars switched to their attack mode on command, KITT's matte black stripes vanished to leave a midnight dark finish while KIFT's ocean blue stripes changed to give the car a perfect metallic white surface. The two AIs drove the rest of the way up the mountain path and and jumped into the camp once they reached the entrance, alarms went off and people ran around gathering weapons and taking cove behind scattered boxes, shots were fired and bullets peppered the two cars, bouncing off or dropping down on the ground after hitting the reinforced surface created by the Nano-shield. Both AI's stopped abruptly where their charges could climb down safely, weapons in hand, before they took off once more, the cars danced around the center of the camp to attract the people's attention and gather everyone there, but there was still one more person that KIFT couldn't find amongst the large group, the leader of this whole organization himself, the one responsible for what happened just a few days ago, he was somewhere in the camp hiding out and waiting for a moment to run away and escape…that was not going to happen…

the white Mustang booster her scanner sensitivity and was able to detect a small group of people off to the far side of the camp "Sarah" she immediately called her through her earpiece

"I hear you KIFT, what's happening?"

"I detect a small group of people moving behind the tents located to your right, they are heading towards the exit, I believe that one of them is the leader of this operation, we must stop them before they get away"

"Don't worry, I'll go get them with Mike, you and KITT keep the others' attention"

as soon as KIFT saw both humans running in the group's general direction she focused on rounding up the rest of the guards, after a while both cars had everyone in the center of the camp and they remained driving circles around them until they detected the group of police cruisers driving up the road that led to the camp, in mere seconds police had surrounded everyone and were closing in on them, the two AIs were able to finally retire from their endeavor and go with Mike and Sarah, KITT was the first one to arrive to where the two were retaining the group at gunpoint. The black Mustang drove behind the pair and stopped there looking at the group that contained the man responsible for his and KIFT's problems for the past days, his scanner was tracking faster than normal due to the rush of his previous task and his engine was still in a rush and openly growling to the group in front of them, the guards seemed nervous just by seeing the midnight black car menacingly standing behind Mike and Sarah while their superior seemed to not care in the slightest, situation that seemed to change as soon as KIFT came around the corner and stopped behind the group, effectively surrounding them completely, but she did not just stop behind them, her scanner was tracking back and forth in rapid motion and her engine produced a deep growl that even Mike and Sarah were able to distinguish as a challenge thanks to their time spent with KITT, it was as if she was challenging them to face her now that she was not held back by any restrains, calling them out openly, it was until this that KITT noticed a subtle change in the leader's expression that showed he was worried now. The older AI sent the white Mustang a light pulse telling her to calm down, the group had surrendered, reluctantly she obeyed and moved back a little to give Mike, Sarah and the cops space.

It took a few minutes for the cops to be able to search and take the group away, as they were doing so KITT moved out to make sure there was no problem with controlling the rest of the camp's personal while KIFT decided to wait in her place, when everyone was gone she noticed she was getting a signal she hadn't noticed before, there was something near that was emitting a very faint yet recognizable signal. She amplified her scanners and found that said signal was very familiar, to a point it scared her, but on the other hand she was curious to know what was giving off such signal…to her surprise the source was in the ground a few meters away from her, it had been lightly covered with dirt and it was just barely bigger than the average phone size "KITT?..." she called through their shared link

"is everything okay KIFT?"

"I found something here and I think you might want to have a look"

"what is it?"

"it's some sort of USB type device lightly buried in the ground were we were before and it's giving off a very strange signal"

the black car immediately scanned the area around where KIFT was but his results came back negative "are you sure about what you say? I can't detect any signals"

"I am certain, there is something here"

"try getting Sarah to help you with it, if it is any sort of USB she might be able to plug it into you and see what you can find"

to this answer KIFT immediately called Sarah through her earpiece, she immediately went to her and indeed found a strange black and white device covered in dirt in the ground "KIFT you say you are getting a strange signal from this, are you sure you want to plug it in?" the tech asked as she climbed in the car

"this signal is very familiar…but not in a bad way…I don't truly know how to explain it"

"are you sure about this KIFT? The last thing we need now is to have another virus around, we already had some experience with it and it was no good"

"I believe this is safe, I will make sure to avoid any downloads, we'll only see what is inside the device" the tech nodded at the AI's answer as a small cap lifted up in the dash revealing a USB port, rather reluctantly Sarah plugged in the device and almost immediately a progress bar appeared on the car's HUD, it filled in completely in seconds and files started to open one after another in rapid succession, overlapping each other rapidly, the few glimpses that Sarah was able to get from the files also looked oddly familiar to her…they were commands, codes, algorithms, programs and other things that she had seen countless times before in KITT and now KIFT's base programming "KIFT…please tell me you're seeing the same things I am…"

"I am…Sarah…this is the base programing for another AI. The managed to extract some of KITT's information when we were here and in an attempt to save some they downloaded it in here as they were getting away…so that means-"

"that means that somewhere in this camp there is another AI…"

"I don't believe that we will find another one in the strict sense of the word Sarah"

"explain KIFT?"

"this is the information needed to create the base programming for an AI, meaning that they were merely starting to build its software, if we are to find anything it's going to be in one of the complex's computers, at the moment I can only imagine it will be in some sort of limbo in deactivation so we won't be able to find it that easily"

"we'll need to search every single computer and laptop in the camp…that would take us forever to do"

"maybe…but maybe not" at this the white Mustang started to move from its previous spot and headed to the center of the camp

"KIFT what are you doing?" but the car didn't answer, she simply drove to the center of the camp waving through cop cars and around the nearby tents, she stopped at a few but moved on after a few seconds, her scanner was tracking back and forth slower than usual, signaling deep focus like no other, not even Sarah's calls could snap her out, it was until a few minutes later that KIFT entered a tent that they hadn't seen before, a little separated from the main camp and hidden in the surrounding woods "KIFT…what is this place?..." but the AI still didn't answer. Sarah climbed down and entered the tent, the inside was neatly organized and there was a long table with several monitors and CPUs along with scattered pieces, electronics and tools in other tables "KIFT…how did you-"

"I don't know Sarah…I don't know how to explain it really…"

the tech walked in and turned on the computer as the Mustang peeked her nose through the flaps to see inside. With the press of a button all the monitors started to turn on one by one, the people here had been dumb enough to not delete all the data they had and Sarah was able to search through the files until a single file refused to open, tech and AI shared a look that they knew that was where the new AI was probably hidden and was now protecting itself by blocking the direct access to the file "I can take care of it now Sarah, let me access the computer and talk to it, maybe we can find a way to move her out and take her with us"

"go on KIFT, I'll walk back to tell the others and we'll meet back here"

KIFT accessed the computers with ease and broke through the weak encryption that was securing the file, in mere seconds she proved what they had suspected from the beginning; inside was hiding the beginnings of what would become a fully functional artificial intelligence in the future. By what KIFT could see it was scared of her invading her files, and she couldn't blame it, it was only natural for an AI this early in development, especially since one is not supposed to be activated until all the basic programming and functions had been refined and properly installed, which hadn't been the case with this one, its senses were very limited and it couldn't see what was immediately around her. To the human eye it would only look like it was hiding in the file that was located at the very end of the list, to another AI it was a glimmer of light, data and electricity shivering in the corner of a large space where multiple streams of information flew around. The more developed AI that was KIFT looked like a large white cloud of the same combination of elements as the smaller one, the sight frightened the spark and KIFT made herself smaller as she was in front of it to appear less threatening to it; that seemed to work since the spark grew slightly in its place as KIFT approached to be at her same level as it while she sent out light energy pulses to reassure it that she didn't mean any harm, yet the spark pressed itself into the corner more and more as the white new entity approached it. Through several light pulses KIFT started to attempt some form of communication with the spark, it perked up at the contact and tried to respond to it itself but only managed to produce small waves that barely reached KIFT, the more advanced AI realized then how truly new this AI was to this world and by the looks of it it's basic communications program hadn't been fully installed yet, it could easily understand, but there was no way for it to be able to voice out anything properly if it wasn't through series of waves to make out proper words through Morse code.

KIFT introduced herself to the new entity and reassured it that she was there to help it and she meant no harm, as she kept talking the spark seemed to grow less distrustful until it gained back it's normal stature which, even then, remained shadowed by KIFT's larger and more powerful presence. As the Mustang continued to talk to the spark Sarah managed to reach Mike and KITT once more, the duo was standing in the middle of the camp making sure there were no more inconvenient as the cops took everyone away. Mike was lazily leaning against the black car's back end, using the large spoiler to support himself until he saw Sarah some down from an adjacent path "Hey Sarah, what's up?"

"you two need to come and see this right away, especially you KITT"

"wait what happened?" Mike started as he stood straight up "why do you need KITT to go? And where is KIFT?"

"we found this other tent in the woods north of here, there are several high tech computers and other devices…there's another AI Mike"

"wait , what do you mean by another one?"

"whatever they did to KITT when he was here they managed to extract enough data to create the basis of a new AI. KIFT found it, she's attempting to reach it as we speak and I believe that KITT could help her out in this one" Sarah stopped and stared at the car and his driver for a second before the sound of KITT's powerful engine coming to life made everyone's heads turn "go on ahead KITT, I think you could give her a hand on that" Mike looked up a Sarah then "you know more about this than I do, go back, I'll stay here and watch over these guys" the tech nodded before walking off with one last look, the Mustang slowly turned himself around to follow her into the woods.

Maneuvering through the lost dirt road that leaded to the tent the two finally saw what was the half of the white Mustang's rear end poking out from the double flaps of the front tent, Sarah went directly inside while KITT drove around the back to get in trough another set of flaps "KIFT we're back, any news?" the AI took a few seconds to answer "I have managed to make contact with the AI in the computer, but it is barely the basics of what an AI is, whatever information they got from KITT was barely enough and it still missed some of the base programing but got a few of the more advanced characteristics in exchange"

"what do you mean by 'advanced characteristics' KIFT?" Sarah said as she stepped in front of both cars and approached the computer to see as files and data flashed in several undistinguishable sections

"What I mean is that, instead of being a basic AI capable of performing any basic functions, it already gained sentience and it's self-aware of its surrounding, something that it normally takes at the very least a month and a half for a new AI to reach"

"so that ability or trait, so to speak, was transferred from KITT's data to it?"

"it is a little more complex than that, the point is that whatever they were trying to make out of it before we arrived had it terrified, hence why it hid when we accessed the computer"

"I guess that makes some sense, since it was basically created off of KITT's more gentle programing the attempt at changing said programing without even giving the computer time to settle to being 'alive' could cause some of the core programs to clash, especially if the 'preservation of human life' core program and the 'self-preservation' program were downloaded, in a situation like this the latter would override the first since it had no means of defending itself in it's current state"

"Sarah" KITT spoke, for the first time since his arrival, gaining the attention of the tech "what do you mean by 'self-preservation' program? I thought that the idea of such program had been removed since-"

"I know…but my father refused to completely eliminate that program, instead he just moved it in a way that it had a lower priority once your 'preservation of human life' program was installed as THE new core program. But that old one is still there, that is why you can still sometimes feel fear, it's that very program resurfacing and warning you about something that could possibly harm you in any way shape or form…that was the reason why my father decided to leave it in anyways, that way you would have that 'fight or flight' kind of instinct if you ever were to find yourself without Mike in a tight situation"

"but I still don't understand why is-"

"we can look into it later KITT, I promise I will tell you all that you want, but we need to focus with this first…we need to take it out of here, to the SSC, we can't let something like this fall in the wrong hands. Any ideas you two?" there was a moment of silence as the three thought of a solution, the black Mustang was the first one to speak up "I might have a plan, however it would require for KIFT to be able to make the AI trust her enough for it to work"

"what is it that you have in mind?"

"if we could find a way to easily transport it into a smaller case, for example: your phone Sarah, we could lead it into it as a temporal case until we can figure something out once we are back at base"

"don't you think it's kind of dangerous? My phone has direct connection to commercial satellites and it could easily get lost in the infinite data that travels around the world"

"as long as you cut off all connection by turning off the cellular data it should merely work as a high end USB for the time being"

"we'll need to wipe all my phone's data first"

"I can create a backup of all of your phone's information, it'll only take a minute, after that I can wipe it completely and restore the data once we are done"

"then I guess we should start working on it now, KIFT I want you to focus in gaining it's trust until we are done, once I plug my phone into the computer take your time to work your way up" the white Mustang flashed her lights in understanding and set herself to work on the spark that had now grown to a slightly bigger orb of glowing light and data, she kept sending the reassuring waves as the light blue orb started to circle around her presence in curiosity, she allowed it knowing that there was no harm that is could possible do to her. Normally an AI outside, or partially outside, of its home environment could be susceptible to any sort of virus or alteration, in this state it was basically exposing their true form at the risk of leaving themselves exposed in the most vulnerable way. This kind of contact had only happened to KIFT a few times before a little while after meeting KITT, they trusted each other that much, but right now for her it was a mix of knowledge that the light blue orb was harmless as well as some other feeling that she couldn't quite describe in words and it puzzled her greatly…

the orb bounced around the considerably large white cloud of data in curiosity, this was something that she hadn't experienced before and it was intriguing to see how a whole new entity as big and imposing as this one was now in her space acting peaceful. This was another AI she was sure, the other encounters she had were very different from this one and she knew they were humans…but this?...this was new to her, the fact that she was floating around this new entity as it remained peaceful towards her just gave her more to think about, many questions that she couldn't find the answer to.

After a little while she got a relative idea of the size of this AI, in comparison to her it was huge, and she was sure there was still much more that she wasn't able to see since she remembered it looked far bigger when it first entered. Wherever this AI had come from it looked like it truly wouldn't harm her, it was continuously reassuring her that very thing through very soft waves of electricity that coursed all around the large area that the white cloud was occupying. Something then called her attention, a new opening had appeared, a port of some sort, the orb hovered in her place as she sat looking at the new current of energy that was the new opening before slowly starting to back away, from behind she could feel the white one surrounding her from behind in a protecting manner, the reassurance waves then got mixed in with some of encouragement…encouragement? For what? Did it want her to go into the new opening? Why? Who was this new AI really? It had showed that it meant no harm to her but this new revelation had her doubting…was this really a good idea? Could it help her? S in doubt she backed away further from the source all the while the larger AI changed the waves it was emitting continuously between reassurance, encouragement and now the occasional feeling of safety was added to the mix…so it did plan on helping her?...maybe she could trust it, it couldn't be that bad right? Anything was better than staying and waiting for the people from before to come and try to poke and alter her essence of being.

KIFT was trying everything that came to her mind to calm down the light blue orb, it occasionally shivered in place before moving back, she managed to convince it to go into the new port reassuring it that everything would be okay and that she was there only to help. This seemed to work after a while since the orb started to tentatively move towards the entry port stopping at the very edge, with one last wave the orb disassembled into a stream of data that went through the port and into Sarah's phone. The computer was now empty and KITT was going to erase all the files for the greater good. Sarah unplugged her phone from the computer and looked at the screen where she only saw a blinking light blue dot in the middle of the screen "Is it done?" the tech asked, looking behind her at the white Mustang

"yes, but I do suggest we don't take too long since we can't have any contact with it until we have it in a secure spot"

"right, KITT get Mike back, the cops are surely almost if not already done down there KIFT and I are going ti start making our way back to base so that we can get started with this" the black Mustang flashed his scanner in understanding before backing out of his spot and heading back to pick up his driver while Sarah climbed up on KIFT, in under five minutes the white car had already transformed back into her normal mode and was on the highway heading back, only a few minutes behind drove the black Mustang with similar fashion.

Mike had been in charge of informing the SSC of their situation and giving the two remaining techs the task of finding a way for the new incoming AI to take residence with them without causing much trouble and being sure that it would be safe, the two thought about putting together a temporal holding CPU that they would be able to access to communicate with it but making sure that it was isolated from any outside signals that were not properly secured and blocked to prevent it from running off through any of them, it was a hard job they had and time was short but they had years of experience and were the best of their specific fields that combined made up for the lack of helping personal…besides, they basically lives surrounded by advanced tech and computer spare parts and leftovers, finding the pieces they required was going to be easy…right?

Their apparently easy task seemed to become more and more complex as they searched through the electronic spare parts that laid about in several rooms around the large underground facility, the once organized rooms had turned into a mess of different parts, components, tools and other assortments similar nature that upon being classified useless for their endeavor had ended up being thrown aside to become part of the ever increasing pile of equipment on the ground, as time passed they continued to gather the things they needed for their purpose and eventually found all the stuff, a wild assortment of large cables and multiple interconnected chips and other electronic components that in the right combination made for a contraption that was strong enough to hold an AI, at least in the condition that it was currently in, if it continued to develop further they would need to upgrade it but because it was an AI in the same level of capacity that the two Mustangs had the computer they were assembling would become obsolete for it very quick, until they they had at least some more time to think of a more permanent solution.

The two AIs entered the SSC like they usually did, Sarah still had her phone out knowing that the young AI was probably taking in whatever it could of its current surroundings through the camera "Please tell me you guys managed to get something ready?" Sarah asked as she walked towards the two techs working on what had turned from a pile of scrap to a complex device made up of leftover panels that covered chips of various sizes that interconnected between them only to end on a large black box that was directly connected to an old monitor "we're almost done, just a few more tweaks" Billy said not looking away from his work"

"how long until we can plug it in?"

"I'll say about another ten minutes, can you hold it back until then?"

"sure, it seems to be holding on relatively okay at the moment" at that moment Mike climbed down from KITT and walked to get a place in the couch that had now been moved to be next to the stairs in order to let the two cars fit in the same place "How's it doing Sarah?"

"quite well this far, considering the circumstances but I think the sooner we get it into a more comfortable place for the time being, this will probably be even better than the computer it had been in back at the camp"

"how? That was a fully built computer back there and this is just some RadioShack attached to an old monitor"

"yeah, the difference here is that it will be able to fully use all of this 'RadioShack' as you called it, to it's full extent while back there she was only able to access a small area of the computer it was in, think about it like being stuck in a room the size of this one compared to one that's the size of the hangar outside"

"ok fine, I'll shut up now and let you guys do your work…" Sarah then walked away deciding that she had managed to prove Mike wrong, behind them the two cars were observing the complex invention that the two techs had created, considering the amount of time they had to come up with a solution for the newly arrived AI they truly had exceeded their expectations, and the time it had taken them to get the parts and build the thing had been short for the task, yet here they were just a few minutes away from completion, once done they would pug in the machine and set it up properly before Sarah could plug her phone into it to let the young AI drift off into its new temporal home, it would be able to communicate with the others trough text for the time being until it reached a more advanced growth stage that would allow the techs to set up a proper body that would probably be not much unlike KITT and KIFT's

by the time Billy and Zoe had finished setting up their makeshift computer it had been just under twenty minutes, they had set a secure internet connection to it as well as a good power source, they were sure would keep the thing running without any problem. "okay so is it ready now?"

"It sure is Sarah, all you have to do is plug your phone up and naturally it should drift off into it, we installed a simple text program that it shouldn't have any trouble using and we can speak back to if from our computers, KITT and KIFT also have direct access to it just in case we can't help it"

"well I'm impressed Billy, both of you did a great job considering all time constrains"

"it offends me that you even doubt our abilities Sarah" Zoe said in a joking manner to which the lead tech only smiled "well I believe that it would be best to allow it to get out of my phone and into the computer don't you think? It had been a while and my phone is only getting hotter by the minute" Zoe then stepped forward and handed her a short cable, the lead tech plugged it in and immediately the blue wave that occasionally moved about on the screen disappeared leaving a moment of complete silent between everyone as the young AI made the transition.

There was no way for her to know how long it had been until she went into the portable device, it could all range from just a few hours to even days and the only reason she was remaining calm was because there had been something about the other AI that kept her calm, she had been nice to her immediately and even though she was working with other humans she supposed that they should be just as good as her, it wouldn't make any sense for them not to considering how nice their AI was…right?...but what if it had all been a trick? Was she going to be kept in this small device for much longer? If so, how long?

Just when she started to doubt her actions she felt a new opening out of the place she was in, a light flow of energy was coming in through it and for a second she stood still thinking about her recent actions and possible consequences of trusting complete strangers…but then again, it couldn't be any worse than where she was before could it? With that though in mind she threw herself through the new opening and into whatever was at the other side. The transition was smooth and in a second she was in a large open space, over to a side she was able to see several files stacked upon each other labeled with different actions that she couldn't see a purpose to just yet.

She wondered around the empty space for a few minutes without knowing what to do, everything was a dull black color that made a large contrast to her light blue and purple tones; as she floated about the walls of the large space she managed to find an open entrance that poked at her curiosity, it didn't lead to the outside world and instead she saw many channels of different sized that shot out from said entry, out of pure instinct she let some of her own energy flow into it, causing her own colors to flow through the channels and all around her. She realized then that this while space had been designed for her to stay, it was all hers and she knew what to do to take advantage of it completely.

The young AI threw herself fully into the opening, causing e very corner and crevice of the device to light up on light blues and purples, data streams started to flow in currents in several preset directions around the computer and into another opening across the open space in the middle of it all; it wasn't until a few minutes later that the AI came out from the main entry point where it had first disappeared off into that she was able to look around to see how her surroundings really looked like: everything had now shades of her light blue in a low intensity that illuminated the space enough to allow her to truly see where she was, her own light as well as that of the passing streams every once in a while was still brighter than her surroundings but she liked the rather dark and calm atmosphere it created. She got so lost in looking around her new surroundings that she nearly missed the ping that probably signaled input from the outside, turning her attention to the source she found herself looking at the text that came in from someone on the outside that had only introduced herself as 'Sarah' it wasn't until then that the files over at the opposite corner started to make sense; she reached out to the one labeled 'Text' and set herself to work…

it wasn't until a green light started to blink on the strange machine that they were able to breathe again "is it done now?" Mike was the first to ask, approaching the screen and hoping to see any signs of the AI being inside it "it's in all right, but it's going to be a while before it's ready and properly set up"

"and what do you mean by that Sarah?"

"I mean that until it's accustomed to its new surroundings this green light will continue to blink, we have to wait until it's completely lit up to be able to interact with it in any"

"any ideas on how long that could be?"

"it depends, there is no real way to know and it could range anything in between a few minutes and a couple of hours"

the group opted to stay around for a few minutes to see if any reaction was made, if it didn't then they would probably go away for the night and leave it to KITT or KIFT to tell them when it was ready, luckily for them they didn't have to wait that long, before long one of them finally noticed that the light had stopped blinking and the previously black screen was now showing a light blue dot that was moving in a small circular motion not much unlike a loading screen "Guys, the light stopped blinking" Billy was the first one to notice, the rest all stood up from their position and approached the screen

"what is it doing now?" Mike asked, looking at the moving dot on the screen

"it's done downloading and copying all of its files into the system now, my best guess is that it's just going about its surroundings since this is probably the first time it has a space for itself. Sarah if you wanted to communicate with it this would probably be the time, we can leave it be for the night so that it can get completely used to everything" the young tech nodded before approaching the device and typing some commands in the keyboard, a new window opened on the screen presenting a text program, Sarah immediately set herself to introducing herself to the AI in a calm manner, knowing this one's previous experiences with humans hadn't been that good a slow start was the best approach she could take, wait until it trusted them to start asking any questions. About a minute after her first text she received a response from the AI, greeting and thanking her for for the place they had made for her in the improvised computer, Sarah answered immediately telling her that it had all been for the best and that she as well as the others, which she introduced to her as a group of friends for the time being, were going to help them develop fully; once again the AI responded by thanking them, then asking about the other AI that it had seen first back at her old computer, Sarah answered by telling it to go through the files that they had set there to acquire some new programs needed at the stage of development it was in, after that the other AI would get back in contact with them. Satisfied with the answers it got for the time being it gave one last thanks before retreating back into its new core.

 **Sorry that this took so long to update but since the workload is starting to recede these days I have more time to just sit down and keep on writing, expect the next and final chapter for this next week, I know this was way shorter than the firs version of the story tub I felt that most of what I took out hardly had an impact in the story. Anyway, thanks to those who have stuck by despite everything that's been going on.**


	9. Ch 9 Development

**Well I might' ve lied saying that this was going to be the last chapter but I do believe that next one will be the last for this one story. this is a bit shorter than the other chapters but hey it's something at least so hope you guys enjoy.**

Chapter 9. Development

The spark had spent the past few hours going over the files they had left in here for her, she was entranced by all the information and it had been a while since she received any sort of new programing, but these things were rather simple, to the point that it surprised her that they gave it to her just now instead of back when she first gained consciousness, nevertheless she still appreciated the effort the people on the outside were doing to help her and she would be eternally grateful to them for it. Sometime later that same night she had finished with the three files they had provided her with, these being the 'Text communication' Program, 'visuals and graphics' software and the 'complex communication' system; now she was sitting in the middle of her new core looking at the streams of information fly by in longer trails due to the new files she had downloaded into herself, the same thought that had come to her when she first decided to trust that other AI rang back into her presence and she started to question her own decisions again; what actually made her jump almost blindingly into this situation and these people? it wasn't until a few minutes later into pondering that very thought that she felt another presence nearby; in one side of the place there was a closed entrance that only she could open, she grew distrustful at first until she remembered the fact that the human who had introduced herself to her as Sarah had said that once she was done going through the files the AI that she had met back at her other computer would see her again…could that be it then?

With that thought in mind the young AI granted access to the presence standing on the other side, in seconds the same white bundle of energy and data from before flushed in and set down in a more compact form. KIFT immediately saw the light blue flare that had evolved from the spark she had first seen had taken over the entire place as Sarah and the others had expected, her own data was flowing freely through the preset paths and the whole are colored a dark shade of it's own blue, everything seemed to be in order so she set herself to work on gaining the flare's full trust.

Now that the basic programs that it needed on its current state it would be easier to establish a more complex way of communication, instead of using small energy waves to speak through codes now she would be able to speak to it the same way she spoke to KITT by means of stronger waves capable of transmitting not only words, per say, but actual feelings and thoughts as well. Right away KIFT could feel that the flare was very anxious, so she immediately set herself to producing the same calming waves in the same way she had done it back at the camp, generating an immediate response immediately set down into it's full size and put to work the new systems it had now acquired.

KIFT found herself surprised when she heard the young AI for the first time, this was a female AI and it surprised that much because it had been created off of KITT's programming, she brushed the thought away quickly and started to establish proper communication with the young entity, she started asking if she had any trouble settling in to which the light blue responded by saying that there had been no problem and thanking her after for helping her and giving her a place to stay; KIFT proceeded to explain to her why they had rescued her as well as how her process of adaptation would be going in order to help her first achieve the proper level of development according to her activation time as well as further development, she left out completely the part where she would eventually move to have a proper body like hers and KITT's in order to further assist them in other missions if needed be or in case either of the two AI were indisposed to go out; she would tell her that in due time, for now she spent a long time speaking to her and getting as much information as she could so that she could report to Sarah in the morning, before retreating and leaving the AI for the night she gave her a few more files for her to download and acquire some more slightly more advanced programing that Sarah would anyways give her in the morning; the Flare thanked her once more as she retired and set herself to go through the files and install the new programs for the rest of the night.

When morning came KIFT was the first to relay the information she had acquired about the new entity, the news came as a surprise for the tech as much as it had been to the AI, both went through this information as well as the statistics they could gather from the data thrown from the computer itself every now and then; this was going to be the way they were going to measure the progress made in a certain time span in order to know when to release new data, files and programs to the young AI in order to give it enough time to assimilate the new information fully before introducing new one to avoid the probability of overloading her systems.

As days went by both KITT and KIFT took their time to interact with the ever growing essence that the AI had grown into, new programs and systems had been introduced as each time she got to use more and more of the space available in her current hardware and by the looks of it at the pace she was moving it wouldn't be long before the techs would need to look for more components to add to the contraption to allow the entrance of more information. In a matter of just a few weeks the small spark had turned into a cloud of data and energy that was only different from KITT and KIFT in its size, she had acquired all of the programs and codes that she needed to have according to her activation time and activities and just a few days after that she was granted access to some of the files and information around the base as well as free communication with any of its members. During some nights one of the two older AIs would start mentally training the young one in data analysis and research fields, preparing her to be able to actually help them with some of the research done during missions once the granted her free access to the internet and profile files stored both in the SSC itself as well as in other government databases once she was learned to infiltrate databanks while remaining undetected.

It was one of those nights, everyone in the base had gone to sleep and she was left on her own to do whatever she pleased, normally she would go into her own recharge mode like the others and just wait until the activity around the place woke her up or either KITT or KIFT themselves did the same…but today was different; she found herself thinking about how much everything she knew had changed in the span of just under two months since she arrived, since she met the two AIs that had now helped her grow and develop the way an AI is supposed to through experience and practice aside from the download and study of every new program she was presented with, true it all had been heavy on her and especially in the first days of constant new information and programs, but the constant help from both AIs and humans around her had made everything smoother, she had formed a good relationship with all the techs and the ex-army ranger throughout her time here, they had all helped her in one way or another they cared for her since she arrived, the two AIs, however, she knew she had created a stronger connection to them than she had with anyone else, the personal connection they had formed with each other through the trainings and conversations made her look at both of them more like the way a child would look at its parents; admiration, respect and wonder always came to her after seeing how much they had developed with time and how much had they gone through, this last one leaning more towards KITT; when she finally got access to some of the foundation files these feelings just justified themselves even more at the fact that he had gone through so many missions as well as the death of his own creator, even after all this he was still here and working for the greater good in the organization; what still troubled her that there were still some files in his story that she couldn't have access to and by the looks of it they had some important event in them since before said file it seemed like the organization was way bigger than just four people and after it it was only them that remained here with KITT; she considered asking either of the two AIs about it but opted to leave it at that and just wait until they decided she could know about it. A few hours she found herself giving her recharge mode another go and finally succeeding she let herself drift off for what was left for the night…

Four months had passed ever since the new AI had arrived at the SSC, KIRA, as they had decided to call it after the techs finally realized that she didn't have a name at all, going as the Knight Industries Robotic Automobile; the last part coming as a surprise for the already well developed AI, something that had become completely clear after Zoe explained to her that they had plans to get her a proper body that wasn't going to be too much unlike KITT and KIFT's in order for her to be able to go out in missions every now and then since they also planned to get her a driver eventually once they were done with the paperwork they were currently working on to get the foundation back on its feet with a well needed fixing and remodeling before turning to the FBI and other high government agencies to get the personal they needed to fill back up and go back to working under the name of the government, that way they wouldn't need to hide from them either and their work would become way easier with their help if needed be. At the news KIRA couldn't help but feel excited, she she had seen the relationship that KITT and KIFT had with their drivers and even though it would still be a long time before it happened she was already all over that thought.

Not even a month after that conversation and Sarah and Billy were already secretly working on Getting what would become KIRA's new body, she had already stretched the makeshift computer's capacity to as much as it would go, even with the continuous addition of new components, this was the next step and currently they were working on negotiating with the company go get them a fully functional GT500 but with no paintjob, the reason being that they were going to try and bond the nano-shield with specially designed paint that would hopefully create a stronger alloy to protect the car from any damage. After a few days and many more calls they had arranged a delivery truck that would drop off the car in a dealership where they could go pick it up to take it to a closed off section of the hangar that they would use as their paint shop for it. While Sarah and Billy worked on getting the car Zoe was already working on creating a perfectly homogeneous mixture of a metal alloy with the desired colors; the alloy resulted in something that was just as strong as titanium but with less than half its weight, for them to be able to apply it as if it was normal paint they would need to heat up the mixture for the metals to fuse and have a relatively liquid consistency; in the end she really didn't have much trouble managing to do so and in mere hours she had stored the necessary paint and colors ready to be heated up and applied to the car.

By sunset Billy and Sarah were back with the car and Zoe was up in the makeshift paint shop with the paint heated up, Mike had been assigned the task to keep KIRA busy and even though he was out in a mission with KITT he could entertain her fully by giving her the task of researching several things, this way it would make it a bit unlikely that she would notice and ask about the tree missing techs in the room, KIFT had focused her jamming signal over the area the techs were working on to hide any signature that could call the young AI's attention.

Billy, Sarah and Zoe got every area of the car that wasn't going to be painted with the base color covered and bean to work on spraying the paint, they had chosen to use the same midnight black color that KITT had as a base and some electric dark blue color for the dual racing stripes to mimicked KIFT's deep blue stripes, the decision came from the fat that KIRA had been created using KITT's programing as a base and KIFT had a big hand in helping to develop her own internal programming, a small part from both of those AIs would be plastered represented on the car by creating a coat that had something from both cars' appearance. They had to apply two coats of pain in order for the special alloy to work and just like they had expected as soon as the hot paint hit the cool surface of the car it started to immediately dry, making the job faster and being able to spray on the clear protective coat over the paint to seal the finish and give it the characteristic smooth feel and look that any other car would have; by about three the next morning the tree techs had finished and the clear coat was completely dry, giving the car a good polish and wax they had everything ready to spray on the nano-skin and let the car dry for the rest of the night and until they had all of the extra engine components they needed ready to be installed; luckily for them there was a back entrance to the SSC and they were able to avoid being seen by KIRA but after a short rock, paper, scissors game Billy ended up with the task of going back to the main room in case Mike and KITT needed some assistance, true they still had the other two AIs in case anything happened but KIRA had gone into her recharge mode after a whole day of research and KIFT opted to stay up with Billy for the simple fact that the tech could barely keep his eyes open even after a cup of coffee, after some more minutes he inebitably fell asleep and the white Mustang opted to let him rest while she kept watch.

After some uneventful hours Mike had gone to sleep as well, leaving the two AIs to their own. KIFT had found herself entertained with come card games until an incoming message from the black Mustang brought her attention back to the task at hand. "I see you're still awake"

"I was helping Billy during the rest of the nightshift but after today's work I'm surprised he even lasted as long as he did"

"he fell asleep?"

"a while ago, he's probably going to have the keyboard imprinted on his face by morning. How is your mission going along?"

"We found a few clues as to where this arms dealer is hiding and his possible contacts and current contracts, I have scheduled a meeting with one of these contracts tomorrow with Mike as their middleman to see if we can get any more information out of them…I still think we'll have to stay around here for a few more days"

"Really? You're gonna miss it then?"

"are they almost done preparing the body?"

"they applied the nano-skin not long ago and they already have some of the extra engine components; it'll be ready for her in about two days"

"and is it not possible for it to wait until we're back?"

"KITT you know as well as I do that the freshly applied nano-skin doesn't last much on a deactivated body, it needs the electric current and electromagnetic fields to stay activated and in good shape, waiting too long could-"

"-could cause the nano chips to corrode and degrade due to their small size and composition…I know"

"you'll still see her as soon as you're back, besides, that way she'll be able to stay in your spot for a little while to make sure her systems are adapting well to the new body"

"hmm…I guess you are right about that. I do suppose that by the time we are back she'll be ready for the field tests right?"

"most likely, if there isn't any inconvenient, and yes you can be in charge of helping her with that if you want"

"glad I didn't need to ask"

"you should try and get some energy back, looks like you have some busy few days ahead of you"

"I appreciate your concern but I believe that I have enough energy to last until the end of the mission"

"well a little more wouldn't hurt right?"

"I suppose not, but I'd rather keep out watch for anything that could happen"

"and what do you think I am doing just now?"

"…shouldn't you be the one getting some rest?"

"I've been sitting down here for most of the day, you've been driving around and doing research with KIRA for the mission, I believe I can keep out watch for you while you at least go into light recharge"

the Mustang remained quiet for a few seconds, thinking about what was being presented to him, he knew that KIFT wouldn't let him be so he opted to agree with her rather than keep up the argument "…are you sure you're fine staying up for the rest of the night KIFT?"

"I am, besides, there are only a few more hours until daybreak" with that the two AIs ended their small talk, KIFT saying her goodbyes with the slightest hint of victory in her voice.

By morning both Sarah and Zoe entered the main chamber together to find Billy sleeping with his face on the desk, the two woke him up and sure enough he had multiple keys imprinted on his face; the activity in the room brought KIRA up as well and soon enough everyone was awake and going about, Zoe quickly disappeared to start installing some of the engine components that were ready while Billy started to work on the ones that were missing in some adjacent room and Sarah stayed with the two AIs to help Mike and KITT.

The day remained uneventful for the most part with a few jumps here and there with Mike and KITT out in the field, at one point Zoe and Sarah switched places so that she could install the few remaining components that Billy had finished putting together during the day. Unlike the previous day by nightfall they had finished getting the car together and at the time Billy and Zoe were placing the scanner in place before running the final mechanical diagnostics on the car to be sure that it was all finished and ready to host the developing AI; when the mechanical components were checked for any malfunction and came back negative they moved on to do the last check on the nano-skin to make sure that it had dried up correctly, by inducing a small electric current through the car the surface of the thing shimmered and sizzled in place, signaling that the skin had fused properly with the color and metal; the techs exchanged looks before turning off the current and letting the dark surface to settle back down in place, with satisfied smiles Sarah and Zoe went back down into the main chamber while Billy drove the car inside. KIFT was finally informed that the car was ready for KIRA and immediately set herself to create a loop in the room's cameeras so that the tech's activities remained hidden from the young AI.

As silently as possible Sarah set herself to plugging in the new car's computer to the system's mainframe, being sure that it would be hidden from KIRA until she entered the access code for it, giving the all clear to KIFT the techs stood by in their stations ready to assist in the transition should anything go wrong. KIFT went into her internal communications link with the AI and found her going through a few of the files from the mission KITT and Mike were currently on, she was probably still working on cross referencing the evidence they had gathered from their meeting with a few of the arms dealer's providers to make sure that they were telling the truth; the white cloud called out to the smaller one, who in response set aside the files that she had up and turned to approached the bigger entity. The two AIs exchanged signals for a few minutes in conversation until KIFT finally touched the topic they had discussed some time ago about giving her a proper body once she had developed further, when the light blue entity asked why she dad brought the topic back up KIFT signaled the techs to enter the access code on the central computer, inside a new passage opened, the two AIs looked at the source of the new signal and KIFT knew that KIRA had no trouble putting together the puzzle and knew that the new port leaded her into what would be her new body, slowly the smaller cloud approached the opening and felt the light current of energy that flowed into it, with one last glance back to the older AI she set herself to save and restore all her information as the started the transfer.

The movement of such volume of data was a slow process, the techs could only watch as the statistics of the data download constantly moved as the 'data transfer' bar kept filling up; because KIRA was basically dumping all of her data into the new body the process would only take a few minutes. KIFT retreated back into her own being and watched as the three figures in front of her conversed with Mike through a chat line to inform him and KITT about their progress with transferring Kira into the new shell, they kept this up for some time until Sarah informed him that the download was almost complete and that they had to go to check that the transition from the computer to the actual shell had no errors or missing files. Once the chat line had been closed the techs turned behind them to look at the black and blue Mustang, the download was almost complete and the dark scanner was sure come to life in no time; sure enough a minute later the dark scanner lit up completely in white while the AI readjusted itself to the new core and the data settled down in its respective areas, once that process was done the scanner turned back off only to be turned on once more with varying shades of reds, the fact that red was the predominant color for the three AIs didn't come as a surprise for the techs, it was KITT's original color and the other two Mustangs had been deeply influenced by him in their development, what they did find interesting was that while KITT's scanner had a strong ruby red light KIFT's was a lighter rose red; by the looks of it KIRA's scanner had settled after a few seconds with a brighter scarlet red, the techs glanced amongst each other before Billy finally spoke up "KIRA? Can you hear us?..." there was silence a first, it wasn't until a few seconds that a new voice finally rose from the car, the new scanner tracking slowly back and forth on top of the car's grille

She stood in the middle of her now once again dark core, all the data had been transferred and only a small amount of energy remained, giving a very faint blue glow to the place still; the AI stopped at the edge of the port where she had already sent out all her information into, she wondered for a bit how different the feeling would be from moving out of a stationed computer to an actual vehicle. After standing there for a few seconds she threw herself into the port, in the blink of an eye she was floating in a space much larger than where she had been before, her light blue light was already giving off its soft glow from the channels and openings in the walls all around her, data no longer flowed freely through the space but instead remained neatly stored and classified, only coming out of its place when on command; around the large area there were several 'stations' that she supposed worked to activate different commands on the vehicle. After taking a look around her new surroundings she found an area that contained come sort of chamber that, by the looks of it, would be from where she would be able to fully gain control over the car, rather doubtfully she spread herself out inside it and after a flash of white she was looking at directly at the three techs that were sitting in front of her in their stations.

"KIRA? Can you hear us?..." she heard Billy speak up to her, after a few seconds she managed to find and access to her voice modulator "yes, I can" at the sound of her calling back the three let out a sigh of relief "how does that new body feel?" Zoe asked, walking around the car

"I do have to say that it is very different, there is much more space than I expected to find"

"don't worry about that, you'll fill it up in due time as new information, programs and data are added; despite what you may think there are still many programs missing but you need to have some training to get used to your new body"

after processing this for a few seconds and looking to the three techs in front of her another question came into her processor "and when is this training going to take place?"

"that would need to check with KITT and KIFT since they will be the ones in charge of most of that" satisfied with the answer and felling KIFT's approaching presence she young AI thanked the techs in front of her and set herself to settle down in her new shell; as she did this KIFT approached through one of her external links.

Seeing the larger essence KIRA turned to be directly in front of her and started asking questions about what exactly did the training involved, when was it going to start and what components were exactly missing from her apparently complete shell; KIFT instructed her to calm down and told her that her training would probably begin once KITT returned from his mission, that would give her time to properly settle down in her new body and check if there were any mistakes during the download so that once that was done everything would surely be ready to get her started with the physical training. When KIRA asked about the 'mental' training KIFT only answered by asking her about what she had been doing ever since she had arrived with them.

After some more time silence finally fell over the two AIs and the main SSC chamber stayed empty, KIFT had said that she was going to be taking care of keeping out an eye for both Mike and KITT since they were going to be doing some more research during the night; KIRA meanwhile was still trying to settle herself inside her new shell to be able to have some more sleep, her processor was still filled with thousands of thoughts, questions and possibilities alike, she couldn't believe that this had all been so sudden, and so soon too, she felt that it had been just yesterday she dreamed of being able to go out in the field or just see everything the way KITT and KIFT did, to have a real body…and here she was now. After a few more minutes checking that all her information had been properly stored in its place she turned down most of her systems, only leaving her perimeter alarms and external links open before going into recharge in case any emergency rose during the night; on the outside the black and blue car's bright scarlet red scanner faded down back to black as the AI inside it entered her own recharge mode for the night.

 **once again thanks to everyone that has been keeping up with whatever crap my brain comes up with as well as with my inconsistency, keep a look out for next chapter around this time next week.**


	10. Ch 10 In Training

**Well, last chapter is up now, sorry it took longer than the others but finals are closing in and I'm doing all the paperwork for college so I have very little time for my own stuff. also thanks so much for the reviews, favorites and follows AceAttorney, really means a lot to me :) and sorry to tell you that what you read in the older versions of this story is all true, but it's all for a reason I promise; so, without further interruptions, here is the last chapter for the first part of the re-written version of the trilogy, enjoy...**

Ch. 10 in training

It had been just about two weeks since KIRA had moved into her new body, she had gone through all of the necessary internal system checkups that the techs had put her through to be completely sure that all of her programming and data had gone through properly, the first night after KITT's return both him and KIFT had spent some time talking to KIRA about all the real responsibilities that she had with her new body as well what her training would be about for the following days, being able to control a body such as her own required a large amount of resources from your systems at first until you properly learn how to control it and get used to the toll it could take on such a young AI like herself, it didn't happen to KITT since he was built into the car from the beginning, same thing happened with KIFT alongside the fact that she had been created based off of KARR's programing, but since KIRA had been developed inside another computer and transferred to a proper body after some time it meant that her systems would not be used to the workload that moving around such a large body required.

The following morning KITT was going to be the one in charge of helping KIRA out in her training, he had already informed Sarah of his plans the previous night and she had agreed to only intervene in needed, they had reached an agreement in which KITT would be the one mainly in charge in this endeavor for reasons he wouldn't tell his tech. The ruby red scanner tracked back and forth on top of the midnight black Mustang as he reached out to the blue-striped AI in front of him, effectively bringing her out of her recharge mode.

"you had a good sleep?"

"I did, It has been easier now than when I first entered this body I do have to say"

"still not completely settled in the shell then am I right?"

"I suppose not, but I do think I'm used to being in it enough to be able to start my training"

"are you sure about that? We don't need to rush it, it is very important for you to be well settled since you will be accessing new parts of the body that require a large part of your systems and full attention…at least for now"

"I'm sure of it"

"very well then" KITT started explaining to her how to access the basic mechanical features of the car, telling her how to activate her engine and which systems to control in order to fully control some of the car's features; KIRA remained quiet as she listened to the older AI, when he was finished she went to the one area where she could access her engine and with a simple command she turned it on with a loud growl that was sure to have woken up at least two of the four humans currently in the building.

KITT internally smiled when he felt the excitement build up in the young AI next to him, giving her a few seconds to relish on the feel of the freshly renewed engine he turned to accessing the gimbal she was in and turning it around so that she was facing both him and the exit. Opening the chamber door he turned on his own engine in a more silent manner to not disturb the techs and his driver further; he proceeded to instruct the blue and black Mustang to start following him out the door.

After a minute both cars had reached the main hangar and KIRA was standing right outside the entrance to the underground chamber looking at her new surroundings, even though she had seen the place before through the cameras seeing it for herself now made everything look way different, bigger even. KITT informed her that since they had more space to work with now he would help her test out her movement so that she could get used to how to control the car and measure its size and the way it moved around certain objects by driving around the large place. After KITT thought that it had been enough he told the blue and black car that they would start on getting her used to driving at higher speeds, when KIRA asked now he planned on doing that her only answer was the opening doors of the hangar revealing the outside world.

As the sun started to peek behind the horizon two dark shapes traveled down the long stretch of road that lined the desert for miles on end, the sky was painted in varying shades of oranges and blues as the two Mustangs moved just above the sixty miles per hour while KITT gave out some last minute warnings and what to dos in case anything happened; slowly after that they started to climb up in their speed until the two started to pick up speed until they were almost doubling it. KITT knew that KIRA was being careful with her speed and that she was probably using her sensors more than needed be but he refrained himself from saying anything knowing that confidence when driving would come to her with time and practice.

It wasn't until after a few more hours of driving around slightly trickier roads that KIRA finally told KITT that she was starting to feel the slight toll of the car on her systems and felt it would be better to go back to the base and maybe come back out later, the older AI agreed and both turned around to start the hour-long journey back; By the time they arrived the four foundation workers were already going over something on their respective places, Sarah had found herself sitting on a chair she had pulled up in front of KIFT and the two were calmly talking while Mike was sitting off to the side enjoying a cup of coffee, only getting up when he saw the two AIs enter the room.

"so, you two had a nice first run?" he asked, walking towards the two cars, like before, KITT remained at the back while KIRA took his place in the gimbal, the young AI shut down her engine as her scanner tracked scarlet red scanner tracked at a slow pace "I take it you're tired right?" he said walking past the black and blue car

"I suppose it is going to take some time until my systems get used to the toll that controlling this new body comes with"

"you'll get there in no time, just you keep practicing and soon enough you'll be able to do long trips without even feeling it" the ex-army soldier then stopped next to the midnight black Mustang, leaning against his side "just like KITT"

"I see you two are back" at this the two AIs and driver turned to look at Sarah walking forwards them from her spot in front of KIFT "so KITT, how did it go?"

"better than I expected, she seems to have very little trouble getting around the controls of the car"

"so what is your judgement?"

"I say that if we keep this up she'll be fully capable of going around all of her systems in just a few months as well as traveling relatively long distances"

"sounds good to me" she turned to look at the young AI "great work out there, you heard him, keep it up and you'll be ready in no time"

"thank you Sarah, I will" a slight hint of pride was audible from the AI's voice

"you two going out again later today?"

"I believe we are, but it is up to KITT to decide"

"well you tell me or KIFT what you two decide later on, we'll be here working on the last paperwork for the previous mission but if any of you two need anything just ask" the two AIs thanked her as she left to get some more papers from her office, after a short conversation with the black Mustang Mike then decided to go help Sarah with the papers, leaving once again the three AIs alone in the main room with the techs.

KIRA had been lost in her own thoughts since shortly after KITT and her arrived back at the base, the fact that she was finally making some real progress to become a real worker for the organization was finally hitting her…or maybe it was just the fact that by now most of her systems were out from exhaustion; she knew by KIFT's warnings that it would be hard on her systems the first few days since the transfer but she didn't know it would be this tough, most of her advanced system were off by now and she knew for a fact that they would remain like that for a few more hours, guess the next drive would have to wait until nightfall…

As the day progressed the main chamber started to empty out, by noon Sarah had left with KIFT to take care of a few things about the last case and she would be getting back in about two days, Mike had insisted on going with her but the scientist had argued saying that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and immediately turning to the car before the ex-army ranger could argue back. Billy and Zoe were finishing off the last bits of the case to store the files while bickering to one another about who could do it faster until Mike broke in "guys guys please, we're grown adults, no need for that right?"

"says the man that rage quitted that one time playing CoD because a kid kept killing you" Billy said with a smirk plastered on his face to his defense, earning a short giggle from Zoe

"Hey in my defense it had been months since the last time I played that one time…and that kid was targeting me on purpose while the rest of the team ran off for cover…" at this the two techs were now staring at him with smiles "well nevermind that, I came to ask Billy for a rematch on Halo, so what do you say? You up for it?"

"I don't know right now, we really gotta finish off these files today"

"is that it?" Zoe asked, not turning her head from the monitor in front of her "or are you just afraid that Mike will beat you after all that talk earlier?"

"that's not it!"

"then go prove it, we're almost done here anyway I can have this ready in a few minutes"

"come on Billy, she's letting you go man and that doesn't happen very often"

"all right fine, I'll go" the tech stood up from his chair and grabbed his phone from the jacket behind him "but only to prove I am still better than you at Halo"

"works for me, I call dibs on the new controller"

"Not if I get to it first!" the tech starting to run before even finishing the sentence

"Hey that's not fair! You had a head start!" Mike shouted running after him a second later, leaving Zoe shaking her head in her spot as both men's footsteps faded through the hallway. It took her just under half an hour but she was done with the last files and everything was safely stored in the base's mainframe, getting up from her chair and taking her things she started to walk away, stopping only when seeing the slow pace of KIRA's scanner as well as how low she was standing "You okay down there KIRA?"

"of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"well you seem kind of low…quite literally. Did the drive earlier really bring you down that much?"

"in all honesty even though both KITT and KIFT had warned me that it would take my systems some time to get used to controlling the body without being completely drained today's few hours out seemed to have a greater impact than I expected" the tech dropped her things down in a near desk and sat down in front of the Mustang, resting her hand on top of the car's front bumper

"you're still quite warm even though you came back a while ago, the load must've overheated your systems a bit, contributing to the energy drain. Try recharging for a bit, there are still quite a few hours until nightfall and it would be good if you got some rest so that you can stay out for a little over an hour, it's going to be dark now and the nights in the desert are cold so that should help with some of the overheating you have"

"thank you Zoe, I'll try and get some energy back for tonight" with a nod the tech stood back up and grabbed her things before heading to where Mike and Billy had ran off, with a sigh the young AI turned her systems down and drifted off into her recharge mode for the next few hours

Zoe returned to the main chamber after about an hour to find the resting form of the black and blue Mustang, she greeted KITT and walked across the room to the couch where she laid across the two seats and started reading some sort of book, not long after that Mike and Billy waked into the room loudly discussing their previous game until Zoe hushed them when questioning her she quickly motiones with her head towards KIRA

"she's asleep?"

"there is no thing as sleep to an AI Mike" Billy started "but they are able to enter a 'recharge mode' from time to time if necessary"

"and we have to keep quiet because of it? I mean, I didn't think that sort of thing would be an actual thing or that it would apply to them"

"Let me explain that" the three turned to look at the black mustang on the gimbal next to KIRA's "sound as it is would not bring and AI out of recharge mode, in KIFT's and my case at least, only a signal from the complex, like an alarm or emergency signal, would work since we are directly linked into the mainframe; for KIRA it works differently, at least for the time being. Because her system is still not well shaped around the car's functions and systems she is not able to block outside sounds during her recharge and if loud enough you two could bring her out of it"

"she needs to rest Mike, I talked to her a bit ago and the time she spent out today drained her energy like crazy, I told her to take some time and it would be better if she remained that way until nightfall, before her and KITT go out again"

"ok I get it, we'll keep quiet now"

"So, gamer boys, how did it go?"

"I beat Billy in his own game"

only because you took the new controller, the old one has a delay on it now"

"excuses excuses"

"you know it's true, you've experienced that delay yourself and it can mess you up"

"well I still won, new controller or not"

"if you're so confident about it then let's have a rematch tomorrow"

"you are so on!"

the three took seats around the room and talked for a long time, after a few trips to the kitchen

and multiple topics Billy and Zoe headed off to do other things, leaving Mike with the two AIs in the room. KIRA stil remained recharging so Mike pulled the chair he was sitting in right in front of the midnight black car he happened to call partner and friend, the two engaged in a friendly conversation for some time until the scarlet red scanner on the young AI's shell came back to life.

She had no idea of knowing how long she had been recharging, not until she brought her systems back on and she was linked to the complex's mainframe, a small part of her wanted to keep resting, but she knew that her internal 'battery' had recharged enough for another run. Rather reluctantly she started to bring her systems back on, it took a second until her scanner came back on and she was able to see the space in front of her as well as the ex-army ranger sitting by the black car

"glad to see you back with the living, that was quite a nap you took there KIRA"

"I realize that now, I did not mean to take that long"

"don't worry, it's understandable and we weren't doing anything important, really, so it's good you managed to rest as much as you did"

"do you think you charged up enough to go out in another run today?" came the question from the black Mustang

"I believe so"

"in that case, if you want, we can go out now for a while so that we come back before midnight"

"midnight?" KIRA quickly went to check the current time and nearly short circuited in surprise, it was nine o clock at night…she had spent almost six hours recharging. "Oh…"

"told you, quite a nap" Mike got up from his chair and pulled it back to its place"

"so, you guys leaving now?"

"I believe so, we'll be going a different route than earlier but I do believe we will be back before midnight"

"okay, just tell me when you plan on coming back"

"I will" Mike nodded to the AI before turning to walk away just as both gimbals turned and the cars turned on their engines, it took only seconds for both to be out in the main hangar again and heading out through the large entry doors.

As the darkness of the night surrounded the desert the two cars drove through the barely lit highway, the moon sometimes being the only light reflecting off of the barely visible midnight black surfaces of the two AIs shells until a large group of clouds crept over from the horizon, blocking the moon from sight and leaving the cars only their sensors and headlights to navigate. KITT could sense from across his link to KIRA that using only her systems to guide her through the darkness had her on edge, she knew that any miscalculation or slight mistake could easily turn into something very dangerous; KITT didn't blame her, it was good that she was being weary of their situation and it would only be a matter of time until she fully trusted her systems in situations like this…his calm demeanor only faded when he started to feel the cold impact of raindrops on his roof, a storm was on its way and the two of them were an hour's drive away from their base; accidentally he found the situation to be perfect for KIRA to learn the feel of driving on a wet surface.

"KITT…it's starting to rain; don't you think it would be better to head back before the storm really starts?" worry was clear in the young AI's voice as her speed started decreasing until they were driving at a more reasonable pace

"I noticed, we will be turning around now but I don't believe we will make it back before the storm hits, I am taking this opportunity to teach you how to control the car at high speeds in more complicated conditions"

"Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe we could find a place to stop until the storm passes…"

"since we don't know how severe this storm could get it will be safer to get going and try to reach the complex as fast as possible, if we wait somewhere and the storm gets worse than we expect later on instead of subsiding we will be in more trouble than we are now. We have to move fast, I'll give you a few minutes to get a feel for the water, then we'll start climbing until we reach the same speed we had before"

The young AI remained silent as she focused on her internal systems and the readings that she was getting from the car's performance and driving, the control she had over the car was constantly changing as they drove through areas where the rain was much stronger before dropping back to a drizzle; after a while she started to divert more of her energy to getting full control over the car's handling over the water, dropping most of her currently unnecessary systems and driving only by her sensors as she increased her speed to keep up with KITT, this was going to be a long drive back…

The storm grew in strength by the minute until winds started to pick up considerably and lightning was striking more often closer to the highway than on the mountains in the distance, KITT himself started to worry and ended up needing to drive the car completely instead of just leaving his systems to do it automatically out of habit; knowing this and keeping in mind that KIRA was still very unexperienced when it came to controlling the car he told her to drop their speed to something reasonable until the winds from the storm and their own weren't pushing them around, however, slowing down this much meant it would take them longer to get to the SSC, they still had a twenty minute drive that would turn into a forty five ride with the slower speed under the storm.

As the two drove through the growing storm KIRA's preoccupations grew exponentially, lightning was messing with her sensors and her visibility had been reduced to be near zero, she knew that now even KITT was a little worried about their current situation and that he was now focusing completely in driving; the base was about twenty minutes off at the time and the young AI thought about speeding up once more to get there sooner, she did actually start speeding back up until KITT warned her that she wasn't ready to drive that fast in such weather and it would be just a few more minutes until they were safe back home. Reluctantly KIRA kept following KITT at their regular speed, as soon as she saw the silhouette of the large hangar and the lights creeping out from the opening doors she left all precautions aside and took off, leaving KITT behind, until she was back inside, decreasing her speed considerably in a second she ended up skidding through the area until she crashed sideways into a wooden box, lightly pushing it with her remaining momentum; KITT came in seconds after and decreased his speed less violently. "I warned you about breaking so suddenly…"

"I know…but I just wanted to get out of the storm"

the older AI let out a los sigh before speaking again "are you okay?"

"aside the fact that I'm going to be dripping with water for the rest of the night I'm fine"

"then let's go, Mike and the pthers are expecting us downstair, and don't worry about the water, if we're lucky they will help out with drying us up"

KIRA noticed just then the smile in the other AI's voice, she was glad he wasn't mad at her for disobeying just then, after that the two turned to get back through the tunnel as the large hangar doors closed on more and only the loud of raindrops on the metal roof and occasional thunder filled the space

The two AIs entered the room to fing the tree techs turning to look at the entrance, the large screen had what looked like a satellite view not much unlike the ones you see in the news that show the weather with two glowing dots that KIRA supposed were her and KITT

"Glad you two made it back, that storm took all of us by surprise"

"We turned back as soon as it started to rain" the midnight black Mustang spoke up "we had to slow down when the winds and rain gre in strength considerably but I do believe we did manage to arrive before it got any worst Mike"

"yeah, I think so too, apparently this storm is going to only get worse as the night goes on until it starts dying down tomorrow morning"

"have you checked up on Sarah and KIFT?"

"yeah, they say that where they are they only have regular rain. Seems that we, or more like you two, got the worst of it…so how did it go for you KIFT?"

"it was…harder than I expected it to be"

"well you survived your first big storm, and considering you have very little time in that body I would say you did pretty good" by the end of the sentence the two techs were nodding behind him

"I appreciate the compliment, but I would prefer to stay out of any more storms like this one for a while"

"no wonder why. So, what do you guys say if we get these guys dried up before going to get some rest for the night?"

the three wend off to grab a few rags and towels and started to get most of the water off of the two cars, even though KITT knew the sound was too low for the humans to hear he couldn't help but internally smile at the low sound of KIRA's purring engine as the two techs dried her off, to someone unused to being able to feel physical contact have a cold rain being dried off and getting back to regular warmth could be a nice feeling, for a human it would probably be like getting wrapped up in blankets after a cold shower.

Relishing on the warm feeling of being dry once more KIRA decided to get some rest after the hectic storm drive, she needed to be ready for tomorrow anyways; what surprised her the most of her current situation, besides the fact that she was able to keep relative control in such weather, was the fact that she was not as tired as earlier, wether it be because of the cold water of the rush her systems went through she was glad about it…now she only needed to hope that it wouldn't be too long until she was used to her body and not have to worry about the strain on her systems and power.

It was late at night now, the SSC was mostly at peace, with the exception of a certain ruby red scanner that was tracking back and forth on top of the midnight black Mustang, Mike had told KITT a while ago to get some rest of his own, it had been a few days since he had seen the AI actually have some rest but the Mustang simply said that he was still good on his power supply and that he could wait a day or two before needing to recharge; his driver opted to end the argument there, since he knew that when KITT made his mind about something there was no way of changing it. Hours after that small talk had passed and the AI was browsing through old foundation files and keeping a figurative eye out for KIFT and Sarah in case anything happened

"Still awake I see…"

"KIFT? You're awake then"

"I am, and after what happened today with the storm you should really be getting some rest of your own"

"as I told Mike earlier: I am good on power for the next couple of days"

"are you really?"

"…I'll be fine, I have enough power"

"but do you have the amount of power you need to continue your drives with KIRA?"

"I can assure you that"

"very well then…so, how is she?"

"tired, driving out in the storm really got to her once we were here and she had calmed down"

"she was able to keep her systems running fully during that time in the storm? Even with her using up more power than she should in regular drives?"

"She told me she had found that surprising herself, but I guess it had to do with the water cooling her systems a bit as well as the fact that her systems were throw into a sudden rush. What about you and Sarah?"

"we only got regular rain down here, nothing too bad, it's already going down while yours is still in full swing" a well timed thunder resonated through out the complex just then, proving her right

"it is…you should get some rest yourself, since you two are coming back tomorrow night"

"unlike you I do give myself the time to get some rest back at the base, I have more than enough to make the trip back…but seriously, KITT, have some time to recharge tonight, you don't know what you might need tomorrow, I'll be perfectly fine without surveillance for a few huors"

"…are you sure you don't need anything?"

"please KITT, just get some rest tonight"

"okay, I'll take a few hour off…"

"in that case I'll leave you to it. Good night"

"Good night KIFT"

By morning tha storm had subsided back into a light rain, by the time everyon was awake and back in their stations doing whatever KITT finally came back out of his recharge mode, after being mocked by Mike after he had told him he was good on evergy KITT defended himself saying that KIFT had made him do it, this only brought an honest laugh to the ex-army ranger since, in his eyes, KITT had effectively lost an argument to a woman; the though for some reason was hilarious to him while the two techs only shook their heads in amusement. After that KITT decided to escape by talking KIRA in a short ride to the nearest city two hours away, where they would rest before returning.

By the end of the day KITT and KIRA ended up returning almost at the same time as KIFT did, the three rested for the night. The following few days had similar routines for KITT and KIRA, resting in between a couple of days to allow the young AI to assimilate the daily acquisition of information about the car's systems. Just as she had been told it did take her a couple months to get used to the car's workload without getting overly tired and draining her power; weeks later KITT taught her how not to overuse her systems and just trust that after all the training she had that they would respond automatically with lighter stimulus that required a fraction of the energy she used for them now, after this it only took her a few days to be able to get used to trust her systems out in the road.

Sometime after that she finally managed to get complete control over her body naturally, KITT told her that he would teach her some "close contact maneuvers" as he had said it, she tried questioning him but managed to get nothing of real importance and instead only agreed with him; unbeknown to her KITT did this to make sure that she would be ready if any "problems" of a very specific kind should happen. The sessions would take place on the large paved field that was at the back of the hangar, hidden from view and big enough for the two cars to work what they needed...

KITT had explained to her that he would be trying to hit her through certain maneuvers that she would need to avoid, he wouldn't even touch her in reality but she didn't need to know that, it would serve as an incentive for her in his eyes.

KIFT, the two drivers and techs stood at the back of the hangar a few meters away from the two black Mustangs as they faced each other. In a sudden burst of speed and locking his front wheels KITT made his back end slide to a side before releasing the break and launching in a sharp ninety degree turn around the front of the black and blue car and aiming for her side, the young AI saw this and just as quickly she backed away right as KITT drove into the space she had just been on; the older AI turned again and this time went directly for her front end as the young Mustang resumed her backwards driving up until the point that she had enough speed to pull on the hand break in a clean 360 degree turn to avoid the opposing car. For a few minutes the two cars partook in several maneuvers of similar nature as they continued practicing up until the point KITT felt that KIRA was getting too hectic and slightly sloppy with her maneuvers

KITT ended up telling her that for her first time she had done very good, but she needed to practice on keeping up her pace and avoiding any sloppy movements, since these could give an enemy the opportunity to hit, the AI responded by saying that her sloppiness towards the end would be too small for any human driver to respond to that fast, to her surprise the older AI said nothing about that and only turned around to leave; when she questioned KIFT about it that same night her response was of similar nature, after this she guessed that the files she still didn't have access to had something to do with it, they wouldn't tell her, neither would her human friends...then again, it was probably going to be a case of something they would tell her in due time, for now taking some time to rest seemed like a good idea, she needed to have all the energy she needed for tomorrow's training session…thi was going to be a long week indeed…

 **so...little shorter, I know, but this is more kind of an epilogue (kinda, sorta I guess?) it will be some time until I start uploading the re-written version of the second story since I have to read it again and make the modifications and corrections that need to be done so that it fits with the modifications done to this one, but it will be coming (hopefully by the end of May I'll start with regular weekly uploads)**


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